Undone
by Just a Happy Wombat
Summary: How far would you go to correct the mistakes of the past? Two people with the same aims: one of them wants her family, one of them wishes to get his sister back. But will their mission succeed? And mostly: What about the consequences? We should never forget: The one plays with time, plays with their own life.
1. Just Another Schoolday

Chapter 1

Location: USA, Boston, Massachusetts

"… in many places it's mentioned as the Lost City of the Incas and is situated above the Sacred Valley, 80 km northwest of Cuzco." said Miss Zapata " It is said to be built by the great emperor Pachacuti around 1450, but a century later it got abandoned because of the Spanish conquest. Nowadays thousands of people…"

That was the part when the snoring came, escorted by giggling and a strange noise, which was halfway between the meowing of a cat and aunt Beatrice's singing voice under the shower – or that was at least what Dan Cahill thought after he got awake in the middle of the history lesson.

" Slept well, darling? " a girl asked. Dan has always hated her. Charlotte - alias the queen bee - was starving for revenge from the day the boy put snails into her pencilcase. And now she imitated British accent – speaking the way like someone Dan used to know. Someone who was important for him. Someone who died to save the world.

" Daniel Arthur Cahill," the infuriated teacher shouted "how you dare…" this time she was thinking about something to say to show in how much trouble the boy was, but suddenly Tomas Smith interrupted and asked her a question that took the attention of everyone – even Dan - away.

" Miss, is it true that the aliens built the pyramids? " he questioned. Dan smiled to himself. The old Tom has never disappointed him. They were the ones in the class making jokes of everything and sending up teachers all the time: the legendary "Dweeb Unit".

But to their surprise, Miss Zapata stayed calm and serious.

" There are thousands of rumors. " she said " This was, is and will be just a made up story, a fairytale like the magic lamp of Aladdin. Anyway, it's much more believable than the gem helping the Incas to travel in time " the woman smiled " or that Kennedy was assassinated by some so called Janus contract killers, because he nearly collected the 37 clues, right, Daniel? "

Dan inhaled slowly " 39, Miss."

"Pardon?" the teacher asked.

"There are 39 clues, not 37."The boy answered.

A minute later the ring went off and all of the children ran out of the room. The summer holiday has begun.

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That night Dan had a ridiculous dream. He was in a dark room - no, it was rather a cave and all he could see was a reddish brown stone. For a little period of time, he was staring at the glowing light of it. Suddenly he heard voices comming from every direction and felt that he had to escape to survive. He was tempted to take the gem, so he started running towards it. But right before he could have touched it, he felt terrible pain in his left shoulder. He realised, that he couldn't make it. From the distance, he could see a blond haired man throwing another iron spear at him. Then everything went black.


	2. Inside The Darkness

Chapter 2

 _Location: Unknown_

Mistake.

A word as bitter as gall. The woman knew it better than anyone else on Earth.

Years ago, everyone was jealous of her – everyone, no exceptions. She used to have a perfect life, a loving husband and the children every mother wished to have.

But now… She was devastated, literally a piece of nothing.

And why?

Mistakes…

It was like the wind was whispering the torturing word into her ears over and over again as she ran.

Ran for her life.

Rainforests always had their disadvantages: dangerous animals, mud that can make you slip and break your legs and so on. But that's not all. For example, if you are chased by about 100 people: a group of native indians and "lovely" family members, this destination turns out to be useful – especially at night.

The woman knew it really well and was taking advantage of it. She climbed onto a tree with a monkey's speed and disappeared from the vision of the armed group.

But she wasn't done. She had to reach the temple and get what she has been working for - all day all night - for three years.

Sometimes she felt that she was just going after an impossible dream, but at the moment she glanced her aim, everything became clear and easy.

She reached the enormous door of the building and opened it.

There she met the first trap.

The floor opened right under her feet, revealing an extremely deep hole. If she fell, she would brake her neck for sure.

The freefall took her by surprise.

She looked around desperately to find something that can save her life, but found nothing.

As she got deeper and deeper, more and more roots started to appeare. Luckily, she could catch hold of one.

But the problem hadn't been solved: she was hanging about 50 m above the ground.

Just to make her day, the floor came visible. There were spikes all around. As the woman stared down, she discovered, that she wasn't the only one trapped down there. There were skeletons with different clothes: indians, conquistadors and also an explorer from this century. She smiled sourly to herself. She had used thousands of books to find the temple and now she met their author.

She knew, she had no time to think about other ones destiny while her arms are getting weaker and weaker. As her eyes got used to the darkness, she discovered a door on the wall of the round hole. She had to get there somehow.

She contemplated jumping, but gave it up really fast. Then she decided to do the only option left: climb.

The first steps seemed to be dead easy, but then the roots started to get thinner. She knew, she could fall anytime. 1 m far from her aim, her leg slipped. With a scream, she pulled herself up and continued the journey. Finally, she opened the door and jumped in.

At the start of the long corridor, she lit the torch she'd found. The walls were full of paintings and mysterious drawings, but she couldn't take pleasure in them. All she could think about was the gem. She started running and got into a spacious room.

It was like the nature was conquering back the area taken: the walls were full of tropical plants. The room had no ceiling, the light of the sun illuminated it.

And in the middle of it, she found what she was looking for for so many years. The gem, called _Fuegpiedra_ by the Spanish conquerors laid on a pillar.

Suddenly a helicopter came, making a mini tornado. The woman smiled and get into it with her treasure.

"I haven't seen you for ages, Nataliya." she said.


	3. News

**Thanks for the review craycray3! Just to show how happy I am here's chapter 3. :)**

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Chapter 3

 _Location: USA, Cahill Command Center_

As the summer came, the weather turned from rainy and chilly to sunny and warm. The birds were singing all around the Cahill mansion, making it's residents listen to the slow melody all day long.

It wasn't that Ian Kabra was against animals, he just couldn't stand their voices.

The one that most irritated him sounded somehow like "Mrrrp".

It was a sign of that furry monster, he had to bear in the house.

Not only did Saladin ruin his new trousers and made him an idiot before the branch leaders, but nowadays he also kept up this tradition by jumping on him with his claws out.

Now the beast was sitting on Ian's chair in Ian's office, crawling the agent reports and top secret documents with one of his legs.

As the boy entered the room, Saladin tilted his had and followed every motion of Ian with his green eyes. He was getting ready to attack. When the boy stepped closer, the cat started blowing. There were only seconds left, before Saladin's body left the chair to throw himself at the boys face, but suddenly they heard Fiske calling from downstairs.

" Children, we must speak, immediately! "

As Ian raced down the stairs, he met Cara, Amy and Dan on the way. Hamilton, Jonah, Jake and Atticious were coming from the other part of the house, escorted by the Starling triplets. They gathered together in the hall, meeting a worried Fiske and an exhausted Nellie there.

When all of them arrived, Nellie turned on the laptop on the table starting a presentation. Pictures appeared on the screen, ancient temples on a hill, surrounded by the rainforest. Another photo was taken of a guy in strange clothes. Under the picture were letters. It was hard to read, but at the end, Dan managed to understand it.

" Oh no, Fiske, that's nor fair! How could you do this to me? How could you betray me? I thought, I could trust you! " he said. Of course, everyone in the room looked condused. "He has made an alliance with Miss Zzz, the history teacher." he explained " This is that Parachute guy from the Incas! "

" Pachacuti. " Amy corrected." He was one of the greatest rulers in the Inca history."

But before she could have continued the story, Fiske interrupted.

" Not without a reason. " he said " You could have heard rumors about a stone, that helped him travel in time. That's why the Incas could conquer so many areas from the other empires and when the conquistadors came, some of them could leave their beloved capital - Machu Picchu - in time and survive the attack."

Amy looked around. She was interested in Ian's reaction, but the handsome face of the Lucian gave nothing away. Sometimes she was wondering if she had really made a good decision with Jake. And now as she saw the Kabra with Cara…

She had to admit, that she felt sorta jealous. Would Ian call her love again? Would he offer her a shoulder to cry on, when it's needed? Definitely not.

From now, he was getting further and further from her. But Amy'll never confess, how much it hurts. At least not when all her emotions are mixed up so much.

" Personally, I have never believed this legend, but now we got some news, that are rather frightening." Fiske said, than Nellie carried on. " Last night, someone has broken into the main temple and turned to dust. Or at least our explorers couldn't find her… We have got the reasons to suppose, that this person was looking for the gem, the _Fuegpiedra_ or _FireStone_ in English."

" If the bad guys put their hands on it and use its magical power, I'm afraid, we are already lost." She finished.

Sinead Starling stood up from her chair. " Are you sure? It is the most irrational thing I've ever heard. I doubt that that gem does even exist. Maybe just a treasure hunter was trying to get some gold statues to sell on the black market…"

" Ah, so you think that some madmen came into the middle of a super classified Madrigal territory and started playing TempleRun for fun, right? " Hamilton asked.

Sinead's head turned a bit redder. Sometimes Hammer was behaving in a cool, hot way, but on the other hand, he couldn't deny being a Tomas. But the more time she'd spent together with him, the more she started to like him. She could only hope, that he'd forgiven her for the incident with the Vespers.

It was Jonah, who ended the discussion with making the final decision.

" Yo guys, if the gem's fake, than no prob. If it's real, than we're gonna get it and kick the butt of that megalomaniac guy. Ya can call some peeps from the family to help us too. Word?"

"Word!" The others replied.

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The closer the Shark came to Moscow, the more anxious Nataliya Ruslanova Radova became.

She wasn't sure if her decision was right. Giving that woman the opportunity to do…what? She couldn't even answer this question. According to that witch, she was about to correct the mistakes she'd made in the past, but Nataliya couldn't trust her.

So why did she help her to achieve what she wanted?

At first, because Nataliya saw the desperation and sadness in her eyes and tried to believe that she'd changed after the catasthropes she'd gone through.

But her real reason for helping was that she'd really missed her best friend. If she hadn't have Hemophilia, she would have gone on that mission herself.

If she was right…

Maybe now was her only, last chance to stop the progress – she could make the Shark fall or take it to a deserted island. She could stop the upcoming tragedy now by pressing a button.

She sighed. It was already 6:50 in the morning, 10 minutes before the helicopter supposes to arrive. The decision was yet to make.

"I'm so sorry Amy and Dan, but I'm afraid, I have no choice" she whispered as she put on her white coat and went out to the cold Russian air to wait for her new ally.


	4. The Beginning of the End

**Seems today I'm doubling... Hope you like it! :)**

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Chapter 4

 _Location: Russia, Moscow_

 _And now, let's see the experts guide to choose hotels!_

Rule number one: 5 stars are necessary, the luxury is no sin

Rule number two: Don't go to any hotel that's under 5000$ /night

Rule number three: Check the fire escapes and the bios of the employees.

If all requirements come true, call your billionaire husband in London and tell him your demands.

Since the begin of clue hunt, this has became Isabel Kabra's daily routine. Now there was only a little twipsy- wipsy mistake in the plan: Vikram would never ever help her again.

So what to do now? Staying in Nataliya's apartment, which itself was smaller than a room in the Kabra mansion, wasn't so much fun. So weren't the visitors.

" Let me come with you! " Alek Spasky shouted " If you really want to do that, there's nothing against me escorting you. " he said.

" Seems someone doesn't trust me…" laughed Isabel. For a second Alek was sure, that he'd seen the old cruel smirk on her pretty face.

There was one thing for sure: the woman was more dangerous than ever. After she survived the events that happened at the Doomsday Device - with the help of the master serum - she changed a lot. But from time to time, the old Isabel was comming back and none of the people knowing that she was alive had any clue, what to do with her. They had no idea how the death of her daughter, Natalie influenced her.

However, now they were about to send her to the most improtant mission of our history.

His thoughts were interrupted by the woman putting her hands on his shoulders in a way, that would have been rather embarassing, if Vikram had been present.

Isabel leaned closer, so that she could murmur the words to his ear, althought noone else was there.

"You don't have to worry, darling " she said " I'll get back my family and you'll get back yours. " she looked at him a bit sadly " But unfortunately only one of us can use the stone the same time. "

Alek couldn't help boring to her amber irises. The way they were looking at him…

The woman looked weak and vulnerable, waiting for someone to guard her.

But then he reminded himself who he was talking to and started the B plan.

If Isabel won't give him the _Fuegpiedra_ , he will take it by force. But before he started to move, the innocent amber eyes started glaring the old, evil way.

" Did you like the tea, darling? "she asked as the man started coughing from the poison that was already spreading in his venes. Alek looked up desperately as the woman kissed his forehead.

"Good night and don't worry, tomorrow you and all the other ones, including little Amy and Danny will see the world another way."


	5. Undone

Chapter 5

 _Location: St. Petersburg, Russia_

White snowdrops were falling down slowly as the man was walking home. The air was cold, but it couldn't break his happiness down. Suddenly, he stopped and took an envelope out of his pocket. He opened it carefully to see for the thousandth time that day the little paper inside of it. It was an ultra-sound picture of a baby. His son.

He smiled, which was not so usual from him nowadays.

His work has totally sucked all the power he had away. His wife had warned him all the time not to think about it, but he could't help it. Soon his and his family's life is going to change, the only question is that in what direction.

He let out a little gasp as he stopped the thought and continued his journey to the castle-like house next street.

Sometimes the hardest atcion to take is doing nothing.

Isabel was thinking about that, sitting on a nearly frozen bench, watching Nikilovana Spasky enter his home. Initially, the man should have died today, by a little accident created by Isabel herself. But now it was totally… _undone_.

She had drunk the master serum, became a genius, but still, she wasn't sure if she was using the right tool. The gem was even more dangerous, than anything she'd met and she had to pay undivided attention to every single detail she'd changed in the past. She wasn't sure, what the life of her would look like in the new future, when she arrived back. The most terrifying fact, was that maybe she made herself killed with this single movement.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the couple talking not far away. She couldn't resist taking a rapid glare on them. She recognised the woman immediately.

Irina Spasky was hugging her husband, kissing his lips.

Isabel was amazed by the look of the younger version of the exKGB agent.

The last time she saw her was when they argued about Isabel's methods in Jakarta.

Some hours later, Irina sacrificed her life to save those brats and Allistair.

But this woman wasn't that woman. She had long, blond hair and bright, blue eyes with no sign of that old coldness. To describe her in the quickliest way: she was stunningly beautiful.

As the couple got into its house, Isabel touched the red stone and faded away.

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 _Location: West Point Academy, USA_

Eisenhower Holt was learning.

Yes, I said LEARNING.

How come?

He had his final exam next day, but as he realised, the potato – or the so called brain – in his head had a limited capacity.

This time it let in only one sentence: "If you fail the final, forget the Academy or the Tomas leadership."

So he was trying to cream another pair of words into his head, when that black haired woman appeared out of the blue. She was holding a sheet of paper in her hands and gave itt o the man.

" What the hell is this? " he asked with a confused look on his face. " And who the hell you are? "

Eisenhower stared at her, strongly wondering if the intensive learning had made any serious damages in his mind.

Isabel said nothing, just ran away.

The next day, when the results of the exam had been announced, Eisenhower felt himself on the top of the world.

He passed!(The fact that if he had lost one more point, he would have been dropped out is just an useless detail.)

He had been searching for the mysterious girl who saved his life by giving him the solutions of the questions in the test, but unfortunately she didn't show up again.

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 _Location: New York, USA_

Isabel Kabra has always hated doing things on her own. If she wanted to take part in fights, she always called some muscle-brained to do the dirty job.

But now she was alone. Alone against an assassin hired by Bae Oh. To make matters worse, she didn't even had an hour to stop him.

She opened her laptop to check the surroundings of the Oh Brothers Buisness Central. She only had _one_ Cyanide capsule and _one_ poison dart, so she had to find the best place to throw it.

It was 12:37 and the streets were crowded. Thousands of people were heading to their work or running into one of the restaurants to have a 5 minute lunch.

This flood of people never bothered Gordon Oh. In Korea it was an all time phenomenon and he got used to it.

This time he was going to one of the million conferences of the year. It wasn't an easy job to lead one of the biggest electronical estabbilishments ever, especially when you are the head of the Ekaterinas, a branch of the most powerful family.

As he was walking, he saw a restaurant selling burritos. He never understood what his little son liked in that food, but it was his favourite.

Maybe if he gets time, he'll invite Alistair to have some…

But then a strange thing happened to him: a bullet had flown away 1 cm far from his head. From the distance, he noticed a tall women fighting a man in mask.

For a second, he wanted to run away, but in the end he made up his mind and thrown himself at his attacker.

The assassin had hit the woman at her stomach, than turned to Gordon.

This time, Isabel took advantage of the recklessness of the man and hit his head. The contract killer collapsed onto the cold pavement.

Isabel was breathing heavily, but at least she could save Alistair's father's life.

Or that was what she thought. As she looked up at the man, she could see blood comming from his mouth. The assassin wasn't alone, but it was too late to capture his partner.

And also too late for Mr Oh.

As the woman ran to his shattered body, the man gazed into her eyes with his wide, brown ones.

It was like he wanted to say something.

Gordon Oh was fighting hard inside to pronunce his last two words. But he couldn't die without saying them loud. He had to tell the woman – whoever she was. He had no other choice than tursting her.

Than he opened his mouth, each letter breaking his heart into pieces:

" S…Save… him…Save Alistair! "


	6. Let's Call It Strange!

**Here I come! :D**

 **Thank you for the review, Kyparissia, you cannot imagine, how much it means to me!**

 **Anyway, the Spaskys have always been on the list of my favourite characters, too. I was sad when Irina died and as I heard that Alek appeared, I was jumping up and down from the happiness. What's more, in Mission Titanic his personality wasn't totally shown, so now I can form his behaviour a littlebit... Especially his romantical life. :)**

 **But getting to the point, let's continue our little story!**

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Chapter 6

As a true globetrotter, Amy Cahill has been to the most countries of the world: from France to China, from Egypt to Australia or from Germany to South-Africa.

Most of the time, she was pleased to take a flight or just travel by car to discover the unknown, but this case was an odd one out.

At the moment, she was sitting on a plane from New York to Moscow and the further she got from her home, the worse she felt herself.

 _This time_ she wasn't hunting the clues or going on a holiday.

 _This time_ it was even worse than giving a sole massage to Aunt Beatriche.

 _This time_ , Amy was about to ask for help from someone, who was more frightening than the animal his name sounded like.

Vikram Kabra.

After the Cahills ended their council that day, they've decided to visit all the branch leaders to receive their support and some agents to help with the expedition to find the _Fuegpiedra._

To her "pleasure" she had been chosen to discuss the affair with the Lucian leader, because Ian was the number one undesirable person in their fortresses.

" Excuse me, madam, but could I give you a pillow? " asked a stewardess suddenly. It was late at night and the crew were handing out little cushions and blankets to make the journey more comfortable.

Most of the passengers were sleeping already and although she knew that it was dangerous to let her guard down, but she couldn't resist.

She needed the power for the next day, and with these thoughts, she traveled away to dreamland.

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 _Location: Moscow, Russia_

At about 15 o'clock, Amy arrived to the stronghold under the Kremlin.

As she was standing before the door with a board saying "Leader" on it, she started wondering if she should have visited Nataliya first…

She took a deep breath and knocked two times.

" Come in! " someone on the other side said.

Amy was that nervous, that she nearly fell through the entrance and when she got inside, her heart nearly stopped.

In the room, there was no sign of Mr. Kabra.

 _Someone else_ was sitting behind the desk with thousands of documents and state of the art gadgets on it.

Someone, who didn't even look like him.

To be honest, even his appearance was totally the opposite of Vikram's:

He was wearing casual clothes, not the Armani suits Mr. Kabra usually did.

Vikram had black hair and olive skin, but this man was blond and pale.

At this moment, he was examining the girl carefully with his electric blue eyes.

" Can I help you? " he asked.

" I… I'm Amy C… Cahill. I'm just l… looking for… Mr. Kabra" Amy stuttered.

The man looked suspicious for a split second, but then he smiled and asked the secretary, Alana Flores to call Vikram.

A minute later a man, Amy barely recognised appeared.

He was wearing scruffy, tattered clothes and the girl bet he hadn't shaved for a week.

His right hand was in his pocket and in his left hand, he was holding a broom.

" Yes, Mr. Spasky, what can I do for you?"

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 **Well, yeah... That's it for today. Hope you guys liked it!**


	7. Wind of Change

***Drumbeat* Chapter 7 arrived!**

 **To reply to Kyparissia: Thanks for the review.**

 **About Alek: I've made loads of theories about his fate. The one I hope will happen in the series is that Irina turns out to be alive ( or Nikolai :) or both :D ) and persuades him to become a good guy. I'm sure that he will either stand on the side of the children or die for them (hopefully not the last option will come true.) I also ship Alek with Nat, but that doesn't mean that I'll let their relationship be so glamurous at the start. *evil glare***

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Chapter 7

 _Total, super-duper, hyper, overwhelmingly embarrassing._

If Amy had been forced to describe the situation, she would have used these words.

 _If she could have talked_ , but from the shock not even a letter could leave her mouth.

" It must be a joke. An evil, sick one." She thought, but with her old Cahill instincts, she felt another way.

To start with, she'd met hundreds of Lucians in her life, but she had never ever seen this man.

Secondly, Vikram wouldn't dress or look this way and start cleaning up the floor of the stronghold, not even if someone was pointing a gun at his head.

Then the mentioned man noticed her.

" Have you poured something out, madam?" Vikram turned to Amy. " Then I will go and wash up in your office immediately! " He said and ran for a bucket of water.

As he left the room, two other people entered it.

Nataliya smiled at Amy, who got relieved by not being alone in the middle of this madness.

On the side of the black haired woman stood someone the girl never expected to meet again.

Irina Spasky was wearing a blue dress illuminating her deep blue eyes.

Her long, blond hair was perfect, laying on one of her shoulders. There was a light red lipstick on her lips, but the thing Amy noticed for the first time was her manicure.

The pattern of her nails was elegant, made by the best artists of the country – or that was what Amy thought.

More surprisingly, there was no sign of the poison needles at the end of her fingers.

Amy could feel tears in the corner of her eyes, but she didn't want to cry. She wanted to run to the woman to hug her, to tell her how happy she was to see her alive.

However, there was something in Nataliya's gaze that warned her to stay away.

" Here are the reports of the last operation in Cambodia." Irina said as she kissed Mr. Spasky on his cheeks.

She hasn't even noticed the girl watching her, standing paralized.

" Those idiots nearly lost our clue! Without Nikolai, they couldn't even have found that Ekat stronghold. " She said angrily. Her Russian accent was even stronger than the last time Amy met her.

The American girl started feeling strange about her. She wasn't really the Irina she once knew and started missing the old, grumpy one.

" Oh, I see the agent called from Paris arrived." The woman stared at Amy this time.

 _" She doesn't recognise me."_ The little girl thought.

She got too close to crying that she couldn't answer.

Luckily, Nataliya saved her, but with a reply that became the most flabbergasting thing that day.

" Yes, she is Miss Amelia Cahill. She sits on the executive board of the French District. However, she is from America. "

Irina smiled. " Nice." She said " I hope you will last longer than your predeccessors."and with these words, she left.

Then Nataliya led the poor, terrified Amy out of the room to her office.

" We must talk, I guess. " she murmured.

* * *

 **That's it. Bye for now!**


	8. Rise

**Yaayyy, Chapter 8 is reaaady! :D**

* * *

Chapter 8

 _Location Classified_

The man was sitting in a dark room. As usually, he was wearing a perfectly ironed suit of silk.

All his life, he was searching for the clues, but now it seemed pointless to him.

 _"All those idiot Cahills fighting for a serum which kills them if they take it…"_ He muttered to himself.

As he opened the dossier on his desk, a pink sheet of paper fell out of it. In the darkness it was impossible to read the letters on it, but that didn't bother him.

For years now, he had read the letter every day, the sentences on it got burned into his brain forever.

5000 Dollars… to kill someone special. Special – especially for him.

But the past is the past.

It wasn't just an assassination. With that woman appearing out of nowhere, it was now super important.

" She traveled in time… hmm…" the man was thinking "… She used that stone, means that the _Fuegpiedra_ will reveal its location in the future… But when? Will I live enough to know it?" he closed his eyes.

He knew it wasn't right to think about such things as death, but as he got older and older, the fear in him got stronger.

He had to admit: his youth was history.

Suddenly a woman entered the room, interrupting his thoughts.

" Sir, Patricia Oh has arrived. She wants to talk with you. She said it was urgent."

He opened his eyes again, looking at his secretary. " Youn-Sook, call her in, please!"

Without waiting, Patricia appeared in the door. The next moment she pronounced the sentence he was waiting for years.

" The day has come. The gem has been used, _uncle._ "

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An hour later all the Ekat forces were sent to track Isabel Kabra down.

Sinead Starling, who was in Egypt nearly exploded from anger.

She'd organized a meeting in the Hotel Royal (which was an Ekat stronghold) with Ms. Oh, but the woman hadn't shown up.

Finally, when she asked the receptionist where the branchleader was, she received a short, but unequivocal answer.

"Away."

Then the indignant girl decided to leave, to go back to the CCC* in the USA.

But first, she needed a coffee - as cold as possible – to calm herself down.

However, instead of walking to the world-popular Café Luxor, she turned back.

She left her handcase in the conference room.

Sinead ran as fast as possible. That bag couldn't get into wrong hands.

As she arrived, the sirens of the hotel went off.

All she could see was a guy in black leather jacket on a motorbike.

He jumped with his vechile above the crowd of furious Ekats who were trying to catch him, and disappeared behind the palm trees _with Sinead's handcase and the Madrigal documents about the Fuegpiedra in it._

* * *

 **Whoah, it was fun to write this one, I hope it'll be the same feeling for you reading it! What to say... Every story needs a major antagonist, doesn't it?**

 **So any guesses who the man at the start was? If I were you, I had two ones, but luckily as an author, I know his identity.**

 **However I can make you sure, that I wouldn't let the cat out of the bag. At least not now. Muhaha! *evil laughter***

 **But to show mercy on you, I tell you that the motorcyclist is a Lucian who will have a great role in the story.**

 **Oh, what have I done! You evil guys are getting spoilers out of me without even saying a word! I'd better go now. See ya!**


	9. The Hurting Truth

**What's here? Yummy Chapter 9 has arrived! :D**

* * *

Chapter 9

Books and dossiers on the shelves, a clean desk with 5 screens on it, a huge Lucian crest on the wall. Nataliya's office looked the same as the one in Amy's memories.

Even the butterflies in her stomach were the same, just the reason of them changed.

Nataliya knew, how the girl next to her felt. After she closed the door carefully, she approached and then hugged her.

As she touched her, Amy burst into tears. The girl was strong, but the events of the last minutes were too much for her.

Memories cruelly flashed before her eyes: the stranger sitting in the leaders seat, the filthy Vikram with his broom, Nataliya lying about her…

But the worst was Irina's icy glare.

" She hates me… She just treated me as a stranger." The words came unstoppable from her mouth.

" Nyet." That wasn't all what Nataliya wanted to say, but as she realised, even herself wasn't ready for that conversation.

 _" Everything has to be started from a point, and the time for this has arrived."_ she thought as she swallowed and began to speak.

" Listen Amy, Irina, she is…" the woman closed her eyes searching for the right word, but wasn't able to find any.

" You have heard about the _Fuegpiedra,_ haven't you? "she tried again.

" It's a gem that can make its user travel in time." Amy nodded quietly.

" Da. The truth is that… an old _friend_ of mine has found it in a temple in Peru." Nataliya said. " And she used it to correct some mistakes she'd made and save the life of some Cahills who died because of her. For example, because of that she changed the past, Irina and you hadn't gone through those adventures you initially had together, that's why she couldn't recognise you anyway _\- because she had never got to know you before_."

" The Madrigals told us about someone breaking into the temple, but we thought that one of our enemies committed it." Amy felt relieved after hearing, that the woman knows the one stealing that bloody stone, but then a terrible feeling started spreading all over her body.

 _An old friend trying to correct mistakes… There was only one person guilty in the fire that killed Irina. Isabel Kabra._

Amy shivered by the cold waves racing down her spine as the evil laughter of the woman came into her mind.

 _"Nataliya would never help that cold blooded murderer!"_ Said an inner voice.

And the saddest thing is that if she hadn't seen the guilt in the woman's eyes, she would have scolded herself for her first thoughts.

But she had and was looking flabbergastedly at her.

" Nataliya, you…?!"

But no reply came. The always calm looking Nataliya was only staring down at a point on the floor motionlessly.

And this was the clearest answer she could have given to the question Amy asked.

The woman she put her trust into and considered as her second mother had sticked together with the person who killed her parents and beloved ones and made her life miserable.

This fact was more than enough for her.

She pushed the woman away from her and ran towards the door of the office.

She could hear Nataliya's voice calling her name, trying to catch her to embrace her, but she didn't care.

All she wanted now was to get as far away from the woman as possible. She didn't want to see her anymore.

She didn't care if she'd bump into any agent on the corridor or Vikram, Mr. Spasky or even Irina.

Away. That was the only thing mattered.

She opened the door and tried to leave the office befind, but she crushed into someone.

" Ouch! Oh, are you ok? Did I hurt you?" The boy in the black leather jacket asked.

The last thing Amy remembered before passing out and collapsing into his arms was the colour of his eyes: _the same blue as Irina's._

* * *

 **Yeah, I know it was a bit cruel chapter, but I promise, that I'll compensate you. :)**

 **Anyway, if you liked it, drop me a review, please!**


	10. Meeting

**Time's passing so fast... It's chapter 10 already! :D**

* * *

Chapter 10

Tears were rolling down on Nataliya Ruslanova Radova's face.

 _" What have I done?"_ The question echoed loudly over and over again in her head.

Her mind got numb, she couldn't feel her senses.

She was falling. Falling into the darkness, desperation and misery.

But out of the blue, two muscular hands grabbed her.

" It's alright." Alek Spasky said as he pulled the fragile body of the woman closer to his.

" Nyet, it isn't." she sniffed. " I failed. I am nothing, but a traitor. All I did for years was lying. Lying to my branch, lying to my family, lying to everyone, who loved me. And now, look at what I've done! " she always wished to show everyone her strong self, especially the man, but she failed that _too_.

" _Maybe_ my Hemophilia is a blessing, _maybe_ if I cut myself, I could stop the tragedies. _Maybe I should…_ " but she couldn't finish it, because the man pushed his lips against hers.

" I would never let that happen. Forget it or I will…" he shouted but instead of ending the sentence, he kissed her passionately again.

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Who knew that there was a hospital in a super secret stronghold 300m under the Kremlin?

Amy Cahill got awake with a little headache and swallen eyes.

She was sitting on one of the better-do-not-speak-about-how-comfortable-they-were beds.

People in white cloaks were walking all around her, muttering in Russian.

Suddenly a man turned to her and started speaking with an accent that's only shown in comedies.

" You had been sleeping for 10 hours, 25 minutes and approximately 57 seconds." He said with a grave face. " You were examined from your head to toes, but no health problems were found. It is reasonably supposed, that your faint was caused by exhaustement and shock. In this case, I must ask you if you want some tranqullizer."

Amy shook her head as she thanked for the help.

At the moment, it wasn't the medicine what she needed.

All she wanted now, was to see everything happened last day clearly.

Nataliya's betrayal was only one of her littlest problems. It was the time travelling Cobra, what made her more anxious.

Even if she'd done what she'd done with a good purpose – Amy doubted that – then she could have changed events that were initially _for_ the family.

 _„The executive board of the French District"_

Why the hell would the Lucians need a separate system for the missions after the gauntlet and the fall of the Outcast?

Amy's heart stopped for a moment. The answer was in front of her eyes, she just couldn't believe it.

 _"…she couldn't recognise you anyway - because she had never got to know you before_." Nataliya's voice wouldn't get out of her head.

" The Lucians have an executive board, because… the branches are _still_ fighting. _So there was no gauntlet!_ " Amy murmured to herself. The more she was wondering about that, the worse she felt herself.

 _" Maybe I should have accepted those pills. "_ She thought, but suddenly the door opened and the guy she'd bumped into by mistake came in.

" Good morning! " he greeted her, then went to the last bed in the room and sat on it.

A minute later a doctor came in escorted by Irina and a nurse with a first-aid kit.

" I still cannot understand why you kept your injury a secret! " she said. Amy could sense anger in her voice, but it sounded somehow another way than when she was talking about the Cambodian affair. Irina looked rather anxious. " Have you gone mad or what? That wound could have got infected. And when did it stop bleeding? Noone knows how much blood you've lost. You could have bleeded to death or… or… "

" I'm OK _mum_ , it's just a little scratch, there's no need to worry" The blond haired boy said.

 _" Did he really say mom? Irina has a son? What the hack?"_ Amy asked herself.

She couldn't help staring at the guy.

She had to admit, that he and his mother had quite a lot of similarities.

The only significant difference she noticed was that while the woman was frightening and as cold as ice, her son looked friendly and hepful. _And hot…_

After everyone else left the room, he turned to Amy, whose gaze was still on him.

That made the girl blush, but he politely pretended not to have seen it.

" Sorry again for clashing into you! I just wasn't watching." He said.

" It wasn't your mistake. " The girl responded, her face red from embarrassment.

Now that the upper-body of the boy was visible because of the wound and his muscled chest and abs were revealed, the girl felt the air getting warmer and muggier.

" Have I caused that?" she finnally asked, pointing with remorse on the wound.

" This?… No, it wasn't you. I was just… um… on a mission…" came the reply.

"Oh, how rude from me, I haven't even introduced myself. " He smiled. Amy's heart started to beat faster. With that smirk on his face, he looked sooo cute.

" My name is Nikolai Spasky." He said "And as far as I am concerned, you must be Amy Cahill, my new agent pair. "

* * *

 **Oh yes, that's it...**

 **Well, I'm getting a bit too sentimental...**

 **To Kyparissia: I was thinking about this Nata+Alek ship again and there's a little problem with it on my side... :'(**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Every ship has a name, so how should we call this one? Natalek or Aleliya? :D**


	11. Shot In The Dark

**As an encore for today, here's Chapter 11.**

 **In return I'll take out a little "holiday" and won't update for a little time, so that I can pay more attention to my own book...**

 **Here I come:**

* * *

Chapter 11

Mr. Spasky had never ever been so proud of his son before.

The documents he'd provided him were more valuable, than he thought for the first time.

Now, he was standing in the west wing of the Lucian stronghold, drinking tea with his wife and discussing the information he learnt about the _Fuegpiedra_.

" If a word of this is true, we must get this stone… Immediately." He said.

" If it had been found in a Janus stronghold, I would have said that it's just a fairytale, but by those overrational Ekats… There couldn't be any better evidence for its existence!"

Irina wasn't so sure. She was sitting next to the fireplace, taking pleasure in the dancing flames.

" I don't really agree with you, but let's say you're right. Then, who would you send to the mission to take it? The quick-tempered Alana? That bigheaded René? We cannot even trust them! "

" Why are you asking something when you know the answer? " her husband asked.

Irina turned to him and looked into his eyes for the first time.

" You cannot send Nikolai. It's dangerous for him. You… you just can't do that… He's your own son… I… I won't let you make it." She said.

Nikilovana hugged her. Then he started kissing her neck.

" I'm sorry, darling." He said and ended the conversation.

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 _Location: Attleboro, Boston, USA_

The woman was trying to escape and _nearly_ succeed.

Right after Isabel Kabra arrived back from the past, a group of masked people – as she heard from their conversation Tomases – started to follow her so enthusiastically, that she couldn't get rid of them.

They wanted the gem.

Her only opportunity was gettig into the mansion. But somehow she felt, that she couldn't make it.

The men behind her were running as fast as possible, getting closer and closer to her.

But before their leader could have caught her, a gunshot could be heard.

Then three more: one-one bullet to each men.

 _The Madrigals?_ The dim hope flashed before her eyes, but somewhere deep inside, she could feel with her instincts, that it was just a dream… that she had already been finished.

The worst was that Isabel knew who was behind the whole attack: the man lying her all along. He made a fool of her by persuading her to believe, that everything could be changed by rewinding the hands of the clock. But it was just a bloody lie.

 _" How naive I was "_ she smiled to herself bitterly, trying to get ready for the upcoming.

The man with a diamond headed walking stick smiled at her.

" I haven't seen you for a long time, darling! " he said. " I just wanted to say thank you for the favor you've done for me. " he raised her purse and took a reddish-brown gem out of it.

" Such a great deal, isn't it? You've saved your daughter and let your family stay together… It's just a matter of fact that you've literally ruined their lifes… " he looked a bit sadly at her.

 _Then a gunshot was to be heard..._

 _...Followed by ethernal silence._

* * *

 **Whoaaaahhhhhhhh...**

 **I thought I had to show the other side of the Spaskys, please don't look at me this way! * tries looking in an as innocent way, as possible***

 **What's more:**

 **The Motha Cobra has been caught...by...*dum-dum-dum*... Sorry guys, I still cannot tell ya. But you should have noticed how generously I'm dropping the hints.**

 **So I tried to put in some switch points again...Hope you liked them!**


	12. And It Began

**After a little break, here's Chapter 12. I hope you like it!**

* * *

Chapter 12

After spending the whole day in the mini-hospital, Amy and Nikolai felt really happy when the doctor Amy spoke with last day came and told them that they can leave.

However, their freedom did not take so long: right after the door behind them closed, Alana appeared and took them to a spacious room.

" Is something wrong?" Amy asked anxiously. " Why did she lead us here?"

" Don't worry, it's nothing special." Nikolai said, but his face gave the total opposite opinion away. " It's just the _Commander Room_. You're called here, when the leadership wants to send you on a mission."

 _" A mission? I'm not an agent… What's more, I'm not even a Lucian!"_ The girl thought. She wanted to tell the boy the truth, but she knew it would have the same consequence as jumping off the Empire State Building.

She couldn't give herself away…

How lucky it was, that someone lied about her: as Irina's best friend, all of Nataliya's words were accepted without any interrogation. She felt thankful to the woman for saving her life this way, but she still couldn't forgive her for the alliance with Isabel and doubted that she would ever be able to do so.

 _Isabel…_ Maybe this time, she is travelling back to the date of her or - what's worse - her brother's birth ot stop it.

And Dan… _Was he alive? Did he know that he had a sister? If they met on the street now, would he recognise her?_

Amy was really thankful to Mr. Spasky for interrupting her thoughts.

" Children! It's nice to see you!" He was smiling, but in a way, that reminded Amy of Fiske, when somebody overtook him on a car race in the city. " I guess you don't have any clue, why I called you here, do you? Well, we've found a really important document about a… a quite interesting object."

" Now go to Nataliya's office, she'll do the rest of the briefing there. And you can also meet up an agent, who will accompany you on the mission. Good luck! " He said and left.

Outside the room Amy and Nikolai were about to enter, someone with raven black hair and amber eyes had been already waiting.

Amy stopped breathing.

Ian Kabra was standing before her.

With his father being a low rank Lucian, it was a wonder that he could keep his vain expression and model appearance.

But for the first time, it didn't bother the girl. He was just the guy she'd known for so many years and that made her delighted.

On the other hand, Nikolai behaved totally the opposite way. For the first sight it could be known, that the two of them didn't get on well.

" Kabra!"

" Spasky!"

They shook hands.

Then the door opened and a female voice called out.

" Come in!" Nataliya said as she took a piece of paper out of a drawer.

The youngsters sat on the three chairs prepared for them, Amy had chosen furthest one.

Then the woman gave them the sheet.

 _Fuegpiedra_ was written on it and there was a photo attached, too.

They've all read the information.

Ian was the first one speaking.

" So you want us to bring you this gem. " he said with a serious face, like a businessman making a bargain.

" Da, but it won't be so easy as it looks like. As our agents monitored, all the other branches - _including the Madrigals_ \- has sent their own people to find it." The woman said slowly.

It was like she wanted to add something else, but she suddenly changed her mind and stayed quiet.

Now it came obvious, that Amy wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable in the room.

Nataliya was sitting motionless, staring at a pen on her desk.

Although her face gave nothing away, everybody could feel the tension in the room.

Finally, she gave them some gadgets: belts with ropes, a dart gun, a dagger and a pistol and wished them good luck.

In the door, Alek was waiting for them to take them to a location, that for some strange reasons couldn't be revealed.

 _" Seems Irina and his husband trust noone."_ Amy thought _" Not even their own son."_

She looked at the boy with sympathy. Nikolai smiled back at her.

Now all the three kids knew one thing for sure:

 _The hunt has started._

* * *

 **As you can see, Operation Firestone is on! Yayyyy...**

 **So now: Question time! :D**

 **1\. What's your oppinion about Ian's return? Are you happy that he's back? How do you think Ian will influence the relationship started to form between Amy and Nico? (Amian vs Nikamy?)**

 **2\. Will Amy ever forgive Nataliya?**

 **3\. And last but not least: Will they survive the mission?**


	13. Caged

**Hi people, I'm here with Ch 13!**

 **I guess you're interested how the adventures of Amy, Ian and Niko are going, but first we must take a little bypass to someone else!**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

Chapter 13

The little girl was sitting in a cold cell. She pulled her legs up and hugged them with her two arms. She had to keep her body heat to survive.

Suddenly, two men appeared, escorting a woman to the room. She could barely walk.

Then they threw her down, paying no attention where she landed.

Natalie Kabra didn't get used to such things like people being thrown at her, however her shock wasn't caused by this action.

The woman, who had fallen on her was more interesting.

Slowly, she started moving, trying to pull herself up to sit, but everytime her body left the ground, she'd fallen back to her initial position.

Then the girl helped her up.

Natalie's eyes widened as she recognised her.

" Mum?" That was the only word, which could leave her mouth.

The woman looked up at her surprised.

" Mummy, is that really you? What happened to you? Are you OK? Did they hurt you?" Natalie asked her anxiously.

" I'm okay darling." Isabel Kabra answered with disbelief. The last time she saw her daughter was in that terrible cave, when Natalie was laying dead under a black blanket. Now the same feeling started spreading in her body like that time: unstoppable furry.

That Korean asshole not only lied to her, but he also captured her daughter. _And who knows what else he'd done…_

Isabel felt an enormous temptation to wreck his neck.

Then she realised that she wasn't alone and to calm the frightened girl next to her down, she she tried to smile.

" I'm fine, darling." She said, but the huge wound on her leg said the opposite. Although it wasn't bleeding anymore and the bullet had been taken out, it caused still a pain, that made Isabel groan.

" No you aren't!" Natalie said worriedly as she tore a piece of her long Prada dress down to bandage the injury.

Isabel watched her terrified as Natalie was working.

" That… that was a Prada… And you just… just ruined it…" she couldn't speak from the dismay.

" Mum." Natalie looked at her with a face of annoyance. " There are more important things on Earth than a piece of cloth. For example my maniac mother who wanted to rule the world, so she disowned me and my brother and pretended to kill us thousans of times. And then sacrificed herself to save the world, because she thought that I was electrocuted. And finally, to correct it, she'd travelled back in time." Now tears were rolling down on her cheeks.

Yes, the man had told her everything. At first, she couldn't believe it, but there were evidences that proved that he'd told her the truth.

Isabel embranced her, pulling her as close as possible.

 _" Poor girl"_ she thought _" What kind of mother you've had!"_

She felt the devastating force of remorse.

But something else flashed into her mind, too.

Revenge.

Maybe she'd changed, but the old Isabel hadn't faded away.

Neither did her strength and cruellness.

And that man will experience both of them for sure.

She just had to get out of this bloody cage…

* * *

 **And that's it. Could you really believe that I killed off Isabel before? Oh guys, really!**

 ** _It's just too early for anyone to die._**

 ** _But soon, it won't be so..._** ***Leaves with her laughter learnt from the Motha Kabra echoing all around.***


	14. Before the Ride

**Hey guys! I just came back from...um...sry that information is classified, but anyway, I brought you Chapter 14!**

 **To Kyparissia: Well yup, Bae is more** ** _rational_** **. However, with the past changed, who knows how were the life and personality of the characters influenced? Maybe it's Alistair, maybe it's Bae or a third person... We'll see! ;)**

* * *

Chapter 14

The weather in the evening turned windy and it was freezing outside, preventing the Shark from taking off.

Everyone in the Lucian stronghold were disappointed by the delay of Operation Firestone except for Amy Cahill.

At the moment, she was sitting on a bed in the warm, little room she received after getting released from hospital. Althought it was about 1 am, the girl couldn't sleep: she was deep in her thoughts, trying to find the answers to her questions, but couldn't succeed.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door and walked there reluctantly to open it.

She expected Ian or Nikolai to come, but from the snoring next door she lately supposed, that it's not so likely.

Then, before Amy could touch the handle, Nataliya rushed in, shutting the door behind her as fast as possible.

"Good evening!" were the only two words the surprised girl could say. But there was no need for her to talk – Nataliya did it instead.

" Amy, listen! Maybe you hate me now because of Isabel, but you must understand that her plan had a point. With it, we cannot only win the fight against the Vespers, the Outcast or anyone else, but we can also get back the people we've lost. Just think of Irina or Nikolai or… " The woman took a long breath. " your parents."

The girl's eyes widened. " Mum… and dad? Are they alive? Is it true?"

Nataliya nodded silently. " Yes. Half an hour before, I talked with Fiske. He assured me, that both Arthur and Hope were fine and so was Dan. They are safe _with Grace_ in her mansion." She was wishpering the last sentences, but Amy payed no attention to this – the fact that her whole family was alive made her wax euphoric. Her anger she felt about the woman disappeared.

" Call them back, please! I MUST hear their voices!" She shouted, but then she felt Nataliya's finger on her mouth.

" Ssh, you're giving me away!" She murmured anxiously. " Don't forget, that the Lucians and Madrigals are still enemies. If they figure out who I work for…" She paused this time, looking around, as if someone had attended the room while they let down their guards. " The walls have ears down here!"

Then she gave a sheet of paper to Amy. There were names of different locations on it with the elegant handwriting of the woman:

 _St. Petersburg_

 _New York_

 _Boston_

 _London_

 _Boston_

 _Cahill Island._

" The _Fuegpiedra_ has to be taken to the right place, where it will provide an hour to its user in the past and when it's done, it'll bring them back to the same location." She explained. " The list you're holding includes the places Isabel visited or planned to do so."

" Then why is Boston two times there?" Amy asked.

" As far as I'm concerned, the first time Isabel got there was to save your parents." Nataliya laid her hand on the table next to her." Then she took her way back to London to meet Vikram. From there she should have gone to the Cahill Island for some reason she'd never told me, but instead, she went back and faded away. I suppose she wanted to get some help from Fiske, who was also informed about the plan. The Madrigals had been searching for her the whole day, but found nothing." Suddenly the colours started to merge before her eyes. She was fainting, but before falling, Amy caught her.

This time the girl looked worriedly at the woman.

" Nataliya, are you all right?" She asked her as she ran for a glass of water.

" It's OK, don't be afraid." Nataliya tried to calm her down. " It's usual. My immune system is just not the best."

Then she stood up. " Getting back to the point, if you want to find the gem, you must follow Isabel's route. Tomorrow, Alek will lead you to the Inca temple, where the stone was originally placed." Amy was wondering if she'd really seen blush on the porcelain face of the woman as she pronunced the name of the man.

"You must drop hints to make your team go to one of the locations on the paper. But don't let them know more or both of us will be killed. If I were you, I'd start in London, because that was the last place where the things planned went normally. " She said with a serious expression. " And take care of yourself. " Her face softened as she hugged Amy and said goodbye.

Then she started sneaking back to her office.

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Three rooms away, Nikolai was swallowing some vodka with his uncle.

" Your parents have put their trust in you." Alek Spasky said. " You cannot fail this time. You must be ready to pay as big price as you have to to complete the mission."

" Of course… I understand." The boy rolled his eyes.

" Nyet, you don't." The man looked at him, right into his eyes. " By the 'price' I meant anything, really. Not just getting wounded for the aim… But also giving your life for that."

Nikolai closed his eyes, trying to absorb the words he'd heard. He got them before every affair, so how could they differ so much this time?

The look of his uncle was the one bothering him, making sure, that the fatal sentences weren't empty sayings…

They were clear orders.

And it wasn't Alek who gave them.

The same thoughts were echoing in Nikolai's head as he walked back to his room:

 _Mum, Dad, could you frankly do that to me? Could you sacrifice me for… for… more power?_

* * *

 **That's it for now, hope you like it! Cheers!**


	15. Arrival

**Chapter 15 is here! I hope you honorate my effort to bring you 2 chapters/day, huh? :D**

* * *

Chapter 15

As the fin like blades of the Shark started spinning, Ian Kabra felt lonelier and lonelier. As he walked onto the helipad, he couldn't stop thinking about his father. Right now, somewhere deep inside the stronghold, Vikram might be mopping or cleaning the toilets.

 _"It's so unfair!"_ Ian said to himself as he took a glare on the blond haired guy next to the helicopter.

Once Nikolai's family and the Kabras were fighting for the leadership. Vikram and Isabel had a great chance for the place, but then the old leader – Nataliya's father – stood up for the Spaskys, making them able to gather so much influence that was more than enough to win.

From that day on, Irina and her husband considered the Kabras the major threat to their position and made them the disgraces of the Lucians. The part of the long retaliation was that they didn't let his father say goodbye to Ian, although he conceivably wouldn't come back alive.

So now, he was sitting on the chair of the aircraft, watching as Nikolai got his last kisses from his mother and jumped next to him accompanied by Amy, who was waving to the ones left behind.

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The journey wasn't as long as Amy guessed.

Alek was going with max speed, so they arrived to the airport of Lima late afternoon.

Then, they checked in to their hotel and examined the rooms. Of course, they could find no more bugs, because the _Lucian Frontline Team_ had checked it 2 minutes before their arrival.

They made up their mind to go to the Inca temple at night, so the girl decided to sleep a littlebit, but after she closed her eyes, she heard Nikolai's voice.

" Have you seen my phone?" The boy asked, just then he noticed that his timing wasn't the best. " Oh, did I wake you?"

" No, I was just relaxing." Amy said. " Have you checked the first drawer of the desk in your room yet?"

The guy ran to see it and then came back with his mobile in his hand like the cat who got the cream.

" Got it!" He smiled." You've got an amazing memory!"

 _" If you knew, how much training I'd been through before."_ Amy thought.

Then Nikolai sat onto the corner of her bed.

" Do you like the accommodation anyway?" He asked.

" Yeah, it's great." Amy replied, trying to make her voice as enthusiastic as she could. " But it would be better to get to that gem and take it, instead of sitting arond here."

Nikolai laughed. " I feel the same way, but to avoid our enemies, we need darkness." He smiled. " But I guess I should leave now, letting you take a nap." He said as he started walking out of the room to the direction of the street.

" Wait!" Amy shouted and stood up." Where are you going?"

" Just having a walk." The boy stopped, looking back to her. " Would you mind coming?"

Amy paused for a moment, but then nodded and exited the huge building to the noisy town bathing in the light of the sun.

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 _Location: Attleboro, Boston, USA_

Grace Cahill hated giving speeches. Even when only her close family was present.

After receiving the report about the dead bodies – identified as Tomas agents - found near the mansion and her granddaughter's disappearance, the Madrigal leaders got together for a discussion.

" …We cannot be sure, who their attackers were." She said." But one of the victims survived and now he's laying deep inside the command centre, surrounded by the best doctors of the country. As announced, his condition is improving, so when he gets awake from coma, we'll be able to ask him out."

The Madrigals looked curious at her. Three days ago Amy Cahill turned into dust and everyone had been searching for her all day, all night. That moment all the agents hoped that the stranger could provide the lost pieces to solve the puzzle.

" They were Tomases, weren't they? Maybe we ought to call and ask Eisenhower Holt about it. The Madrigals are feared all around the family, so it wouldn't be so hard to persuade them to release Amy." Arthur Trent suggested. He was sitting next to his wife, Hope, holding her hands.

" We aren't sure if the Tomas commited the kidnapping." McIntyre interrupted. " And with framing them up, we'd just give out valuable information and increase the tension between the branches."

" And why wouldn't they lie to us?" Fiske added sourly. He knew that he should have told Grace about the time travel and Amy's location, but he was too shocked as Nataliya informed him and he had no idea what his sister's reaction would be: it had had made no good before, when the Madrigals fought the Lucians and now the girl was considered as one of their people, which means that she was on relatively safe ground.

Grace closed her eyes as she made the final decision.

" The injured agent will get conscious soon. All we can do now is keeping him away from danger – he's our only chance left. We must patrol him, because the assassins might return to complete their job."

 _Suddenly, to prove that she's right, the alarm bells went off, sending a vast of armed Madrigals to look for the intruder..._

* * *

 **That's it for now! Opinion?**


	16. Operation Firestone Is On

**Whoah, the story is now over 500 views! * jumps up and down from happiness***

 **Thank you guys!**

 **I initially wanted to update only tomorrow, but as a present to show my enthusiasm, here's Chapter 16. 8)**

* * *

Chapter 16

Palm trees, colourful, cozy houses mixed with neverending skyscrapers and the deep blue Pacific Ocean.

These are the things that catch your eyes the first time while walking on the crowded streets of Lima. However, for Nikolai there was something better to take pleasure in.

Emerald green.

The eyes of the girl next to her, her reddish-brown hair and her fresh, sweet odour took his attention from the magnificent environment. His heart started beating faster as she opened her perfect lips.

" Thanks for taking me with you, this city is breathtaking!" Amy Cahill said as they sat on one of the great rocks, watching the water waving.

" Well, thanks for coming!" The boy smiled. " I just thought that you needed the fresh air after spending so much time underground. "

" Yeah…" Amy replied, leaving both of them in silence. She had no idea, what to do with him – it was like a dream. The guy was so kind, so soft but still strong and confident.

A part of her wished to get closer, to hug him, but her still conscious side warned her not to.

At first, he was a stranger. _– "But it's like you'd known him for a thousand years." The inner voice said._

Secondly, he was a Lucian and she was a Madrigal. Who knows how he'd react if he'd learnt the truth about her? – _" If he fancies you back, he'll accept it." Her other side insisted._

But when her third question came up, there was no answer coming back. What was it?

Three simple words: What about Jake?

They were sitting there for hours, talking about their hobbies, getting to know eachother and becoming _friends_.

Finally Nikolai's phone rang.

" It was Alek. He said the time had come." He explained.

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When they arrived back, they've foud a bored Alek and an annoyed Ian, whose glare was shouting: " How could you leave me alone with _him_?"

An hour later, they were in the middle of the jungle, heading to the temple. Suddenly the car they hired stopped. There was smoke coming out of it – the engine had died.

" We'll continue on foot." Alek said, taking one of his beloved spears out of his bag.

" Wonderful!" Ian groaned, but suddenly shut up as the man looked at him. Amy had just realised how pleased she was, that they were on the same side. _At least for now..._

Without any warning, Nikolai ran to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her close to his body.

" Watch out! This place is full of traps." He said as he showed her the one she was about to walk into.

" Ugh, thanks." Amy blushed.

" That's a good sign, means we're getting closer." Alek muttered.

" Guys, look!" Ian shouted. Everyone gazed at the direction he was pointing.

The view was amazing. Tropical bidrs were flying all around the ancient building, illuminated by torches (noone knew who'd lit them).

As they reached its door, the relievos on it came alive: hunting indians, gods with the sun in thier hands stared down at them.

" You've found it, so it's fair enough that the opportunity is yours to open it." Nikolai said, standing out of the way for Ian.

The boy walked towards the entrance. He hesitated for a split second, but then pressed the door.

With a crack, the two huge stones started moving, revealing seven hundred years of mystery.

* * *

 **So, how was it? Review please! ;)**


	17. A Legend and 3 Terrified Buddies

**Hi people! Here's Chapter 17. It's the longest one 'till now.**

 **Check it out!**

* * *

Chapter 17

Ian got the feeling that they were in a failed Indiana Jones movie.

And that was before the enormous hole in front of them came visible.

" Seems we aren't the first ones coming for the stone." He said.

" It's just a primitive trapdoor." Alek replied. " The Incas were addicted to them."

" Even if it's _primitive_ , I still don't have a clue how to avoid falling into it." Ian said, but the moment he pronunced the last words, something – or rather someone – swooshed next to him.

Nikolai used a long piece of wood as a pole to jump to the other side, then laid his tool down.

" The bridge is ready!" He smirked.

" No way! " Ian protested, but as Alek lifted up his spear, he changed his mind. " I mean, there's no way this nice little thing would break under my feet while I'm walking on it!" He said as fast as he could, trying to smile.

 _" The old Cobra."_ Amy giggled. She was grateful that he was with her, making her laugh and giving her the power to survive this madness.

But her worst problems had just started from the moment the boy ended his journey, standing next to Niko.

It was _her_ turn now.

She contemplated following Nikolai's example – she was a trained athlete after all – but this distance was too much for her.

The only opportunity left was the 'bridge'.

So she took a deep breath and started putting her legs after eachother carefully.

After a while, she felt safer and began to go faster _\- and regretted it immediately._

A crack appeared under her feet and the wooden surface boke into half.

Luckily the boys could grab her arms, but they started slipping with her to the depth.

" Let me go!" Amy cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.

" No, if you fall, we'll go with you." Ian and Nikolai shouted. It might be the first time they agreed. " Don't you dare letting go of our hands!"

They were on the edge of the hole, getting more and more desperate.

Suddenly Alek jumped next to them, grabbing their T-shirts.

After he pulled all of them up, they were laying on the floor, out of breath.

" That was close." Ian said, sitting up.

" We have no more time to waste here." Alek said strictly, leading to the secret corridor in the darkness.

Before the three of them disappeared into the shadows, he looked right into Nikolai's eyes. There was no need for him to talk. He knew that his nephew would understand what he wanted to tell him.

 _" One more like this and you're out. Our quest is to take the gem to the Lucians and that doesn't include the Cahill girl. I don't care how you feel about her. I don't care what happenes to her. She is just one of our agents and as both of us know, they aren't irreplacable tools."_

The boy nodded to him with remorse, making a sign of that he understood.

Then he turned on his torch, showing the way to the others. Amy and Ian came after him, followed by Alek.

The two in the middle started to talk about damn things that made Nikolai mad.

 _"Maybe I'm getting jealous."_ He told himself.

" Do you think it's the _Fuegpiedra_ in the hand of that girl?" Ian pointed at the wall, puzzled.

Amy looked at the weird painting with the indian and the gem. She'd learnt about ancient cultures and translating the messages of pieces of art like this.

" Yes. This is about the legend of the gem." She stopped, leaning closer. " Here, you can see a volcanic erruption, creatinng the _Fuegpiedra_ , which was soon found by the daughter of the Inca king." She said, going to the next mural. " The girl said, that after touching it, she met her grandfather, who was known to be death. The Incas considered the stone as the present from their gods, which opens a bridge between death and life. The empire started to thrive. Soon, the gem had a cult, there were temples built on its behalf and great ceremonies to celebrate its arrival."

" Such a happy ending." Nikolai growled in front of. They started going down thousands of stairs, leading them to a narrower corridor.

Another murals showed up, but these ones were the total opposite of the paintings before.

There were people running wounded into the forest, devastated towns, death and misery on them.

" What the hell happened there?" Ian asked, looking at the horrible portraits.

Amy shook her head. It was just uncomprehensible after the paintings above.

Then another mural came, the worst of all, showing a flaming object- _the Fuegpiedra itself_. The flames had formed people, who were hunting the ones running for their lives.

There was a carving on the wall, like someone was trying to say something desperately.

To their surprise the words were in English.

 _" Don't try to control the uncontrollable. The price is fatal."_

The sentences sent chills down their spines.

" If it's true..." Nikolai couldn't finish. He was terrified. If half of the things he'd seen is real, he couldn't give the gem to his parents – no matter what happened.

" Time gets mixed when dimensions lose their borders and fade into eachother." Alek couldn't help laughing. " I've seen inscriptions like 'Don't wake the dead or you'll be cursed!', but this one is the best ever. Come on kids!" He said as he opened the door in front of them, letting the daylight come in.

They arrived to the room Isabel'd attended before.

It was a relief for all of them – even for Alek – to leave the walls with the murals, however their fears hadn't vanished.

" It's no laughing matter. And from the English writing there, I guess it must have happened more than once." Amy murmured to Ian and Nikolai. They knew that it would do no good if Alek heard them.

Nikolai looked doubtfully at her. " That's right, but if the gem made such a big destruction, how is it possible, that we or our anchestors experienced nothing? I mean, at least we should have heard about it."

Ian looked at them. " Listen, I don't know if the legend of the gem is true or false, but there's no need to worry until someone uses it."

Then Alek came pointing at a pillar, which ones surface was covered by dust – except for a round, tiny place.

The place of the _Fuegpiedra_ \- empty.

* * *

 **And finished! :D**

 **I hope you liked it! I'll be back with Chapter 18 later.**


	18. Dilemma

**Now for the ones wondering what happened in the Lucian stronghold while the other ones were in the temple:**

* * *

Chapter 18

 _Fire was burning her sole. She stood on the top of a house, looking down at a man and two children who were still searching for something to save her. One of them was that strange American girl, Amy. She couldn't recognise the other two - the boy and the man - but she had the feeling deep inside, that she knew them. She looked up to the sky. Then the roof had finally gave up and she had fallen into her death, screaming._

Irina Spasky had this nightmare over and over again. It was torturing her every night and came more and more intense.

The faces of the Asian man and the boy could never get out of her head.

 _Who are they?_

 _What do they do?_

 _And why are they so freakin' familiar?_

But the strangest thing was that after the fall, she always came awake with tears in her eyes, screaming, then checking if her husband and son was alright.

And now it happened again.

" Honey, honey it's just a dream!" she felt the embrace of her husband. She pushed herself as close to him as possible, laying her head on his chest.

" Sorry for waking you." She said after she calmed down. " It's just that nightmare again."

The man said it was no problem, then kissed her for hours. Then Irina sat up.

She knew what she needed: a huge mug of hot chocolate.

As she was heading to her office, she heard voices coming from the left.

" You know what you are? A traitor, spying for the Madrigals." Alana Flores had her ordinary anger rush, but what she said flabbergasted Irina. She stood behind the wall, so she could hear the conversation properly, but still could avoid being seen.

" Nyet, you are just making it up!" Nataliya shouted. Irina felt an urge to approach them and defend her best friend, but this time her curiousity won.

" Then what were you doing in the computer room so late?" Alana asked with a triumphant look on her face. " Oh, you thought I haven't seen you? What a pitty. The great spy Nataliya Radova had been caught!"

" You're lying." Nataliya said in a calm way. " I came out to get some fresh air. That's all." She wanted to leave, but the other woman caught her arm.

" I've taken a photo of you getting the information from the server when you weren't watching, little liar!" Alana smiled. Irina's eyes grew wider and wider. She had enough. She started moving to slap that annoying witch insulting poor Nata.

But before she could have done anything, she heard a bang.

 _"Nataliya had just poisoned Alana?"_ The woman couldn't believe her eyes.

Then her friend bowed to take something out of her victim's pocket and disappeared.

Irina went back to the bedroom without the warm drink. When Nikilovana asked her, she said nothing, just snuggled to him. That night, she couldn't have a wink of sleep.

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In the morning, a woman was found unconscious in one of the corridors. But thanks to the doctors, Ms. Flores came awake quite fast. Of course she couldn't remember anything from the events the last day.

Irina came to the little hospital not so long after her assistant informed her. She wished that what she'd seen was just another bad dream – a new one – but as she saw Alana with the great bandage on her head (she might have hit it when she fell) she knew it was reality.

To her surprise, Nataliya was sitting on one of the chairs next to her bed, looking anxiously at her.

Irina went up to them. They greeted eachother, then a doctor came.

" All of her results were negative." He said. " We've got only the toxic test left."

Irina looked at her friend. Nataliya's face gave nothing away, but she knew her for a long time – long enough to feel that she was nervous.

If the results of the test came positive, the Lucians would suspect that there had been someone spying on them. And the branch famous for its poisons could find the one guilty in no time. Then they would bring them to the Interrogation Room and then...

Irina knew that she had to make the decision fast.

 _" Nata was the one attacking Alana for sure."_ She thought. _"But I can't let her get caught."_

 _" But if she's really a Madrigal agent..."_ Irina felt shocked. She'd heard it from other people that Nataliya was behaving in a suspicious way, but she always said no – or to be punctual 'nyet'- and left.

Finally, she made up her mind.

" Oh, Cousin Alana must have been infected with some terrible flu on her trip to France. So, I guess, there's no need for more inquest. " She told the doctor and walked out of the room.

* * *

 **That's it. Have a nice day!**


	19. Consequence

**New Chapter! Lol, I'm sure I'll make all of you mad with this one, hahaha! :D**

* * *

Chapter 19

 _Some days before_

When people said " Respecting your talent", the first thought of Sinead Starling was getting an award or some kind of subsidy for researches.

She'd never thought that she would learn a new meaning of the above mentioned phrase.

As she was sitting on the plane back to the USA, a stewardess came to her.

" Madam, Ms. Oh is begging for your pardon and to alleviate the inconvenience of the situation, she booked you a place on the first class. "

Sinead thanked her and let the employee lead her to her new seat.

Some minutes later a waiter brougth her some delicious-looking cookies.

She smiled to herself. Her relationship with her boss might have improved a lot since the fall of the Outcast.

Then she put one of the nuggets into her mouth. They tasted like cherry, but there was something next to that.

 _" Maybe cinnamon."_ Sinead wondered.

" Do you like it?" The waiter asked, still standing beside her.

" Yup, it's really g..." The girl started to answer, but then she felt like being tossed into her chair.

The last thing she could remember before passing out was the man smiling at him.

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The time Sinead got awake, she found herself in a room with no windows.

There was only one interesting thing in it: the man sitting next to her bed.

" Ah, you're awake? I am terribly sorry to kidnap you, but that was the only way I could talk to you." He said.

 _" What?"_ Sinead couldn't believe her eyes: the man should have been dead for a while.

" Getting to the point, I must ask for your help, darling." He smiled warmly at her. " To start with, you must have heard about the Fuegpiedra..."

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Alek Spasky hated being told what to do, but the thing he couldn't stand at most was being scolded – especially by his sister.

" I cannot believe you've failed!" she said into the phone." Thanks to your laziness, one of the other branches took the stone. How can my brother be such an idiot?"

Of course Alek knew that this moment would come and made himself ready for the hurting words, but he was still amazed by the way Irina reprimanded him. The old self of her – the one before Isabel's time travel – would have started growling the whole day, swore in Russian and leave, but _this woman_ was talking to him in a calm way with an ice cold tone.

Sometimes he had the feeling that he had lost his sister in that fire forever, no matter what he did.

" Before our enemies kill us, you'd better come home." Irina muttered with anger. " This incident made it clear that I must take this quest into my own hands, if I want any succes."

" But..." Alek couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

" No buts!" The woman said. " You had your chance and failed."

The man knew that he lost, but there was one more thing he could do for the mission.

" The thief might be in London." He said bitterly. He also had the list of places from Isabel's plan.

" Then put the children on the plane to Britain." Neither any 'Thanks for the information!', nor 'Great job!' left Irina's mouth. She just gave further instructions, then hung up without a 'Goodbye!'.

" Somehow, I've got the feeling that your mum isn't in a good mood." Alek told Nikolai.

* * *

 **The moment has come when you have already read it and know why I said what I said at the start.**

 **And now you're 99% sure who you know who is, but still hope that the stuff is not true...**

 **And just not to ruin your reading experience, I won't tell ya who he is 'till the last chapters! ;)**

 **Hey, don't look at the screen this way! I've at least brought Irina back to action! Cheers!**

 _ **Any predictions about her 'improved' self going on mission with our beloved trio (especially with her son)?**_

 **One last thing to say after this chapter:**

 **KEEP CALM**

 **AND**

 **LUCIAN'S RULE!**


	20. The Story Goes On

**CH 20 is ready. Have fun reading it! ;)**

* * *

Chapter 20

 _Welcome home!_

Alek was dreaming about tearing the board into pieces. And his level of aggression grew every time when an agent coming across him asked why he'd returned to Moscow.

He ran into his dark office and shut the door with all his power.

This movement made the person being there jump from surprise.

Alek grabbed his spear to attack the intruder, but before he could have got into action, the lights turned on.

He was standing in front of a stiff scared Nataliya.

She was holding a cup shaped thing and a tissue to guard herself.

Alek couldn't find the right words to say. " You... Have you gone mad, woman?!"

But Nataliya couldn't answer. Her gaze was wandering between the weapon in the hand of the man, still risen, and his wild glare.

Alek realised that he was still in fighting position and let down his hands.

After a minute of silence, he finally started talking. " What the hack were you doing here?" He was still a bit furious, but he tried not to show it – Nata was still trembling.

" I just... just..." But without saying anything else the woman burst into tears. From that on, Alek could only understand a few words: "Alana", "poison", "traitor", ''Irina'' and ''toxic test''.

He narrowed his cold blue eyes. "What?"

Instead of replying, the woman ran to him and hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder.

" I didn't know what I'd have done if you hadn't came home!" She muttered.

Alek stood still. _" What's up with her nowadays? Last time I saw her, she was crying the same way!"_

Then he took up Nataliya in a fireman carry and laid on the loveseat with her.

" Shh!" He said, caressing her hair out of her face. " Try to sleep, it helps!"

Nataliya looked up at him as if she didn't believe him. " Will you stay here with me until I come awake?" She asked.

" Of course, sweetheart, of course!" Alek smiled, kissing her.

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 _Location: London, UK_

Finding someone in the crowd has never been easy in the Heathrow Airport - _especially_ when you're so exhausted, that you could faint anytime while you are waiting for your luggages to come.

Amy, Ian and Nikolai had a terribly long flight from Lima to London.

They were sitting in the great hall waiting half asleep when the woman approached them.

" It's time wake up, darlings!" Irina said with sarcasm in her voice.

" Mum?" Nikolai asked yawning. His mother just rolled her eyes.

She took out a card from her bag with her perfectly manicured hands - this time she'd put on the poision needles too. Then she gave the paper to Niko.

" Go _there_ and show this to Stan. He'll know what to do next." The woman said, patting his back.

" Aren't you coming with us?" He questioned in a disappointed way.

" No, honey, I'm afraid I can only join you at dinner – I've got to take care of something at first." Irina glared at a man in black coat.

Amy realised why: he was observing them.

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Three hours later, the children were in their rooms, getting ready for the meal.

Ian was looking out of the window, watching the people in the street, wondering about the last few days. The gem and the whole mission succesfully freaked him out.

His thoughts were interrupted by Stan, who turned out to be a kind of butler. His family had been working for the Lucians for generations.

The man knocked on his room.

" The dinner is ready!" He said.

Ian rushed to the kitchen. He was the last one arrived, the others – including Irina – were sitting at the table, talking about the quest.

" According to trustable sources, the one who had stolen the Fuegpiedra was seen in the Montrane Mansion." Irina said, but stopped for a moment when Ian came in. Then she carried on.

" We know, that the family living there is Janus." She looked around the room. " Today, at midnight we'll visit them."

* * *

 **Ok, I promise, I won't make Nat a crying machine!**

 **Anyway, as a hint for the next chapters, I can tell that the Montrane Mansion will be familiar to some of the chars...**

 **Why?**

 **Try to figure out the reason Isabel had visited London previously!**


	21. Break-in

**The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I am ready with Chapter 21. :D**

 **I hope you like it! (And if you do, drop me a review, pls!) ^.^**

* * *

Chapter 21

After finishing their food, Amy, Nikolai and Ian went up to pack in the gadgets they've received previously from Nataliya. Of course, both of the boys wanted the gun, so they were arguing for hours, until Irina came and took it away.

" How old are you two exactly?" She asked. " Stop behaving like little children!"

From that on, the boys didn't say a word to eachother and if they wanted to tell the other one something, they've sent Amy, which really annoyed the girl.

At 23:30, they gathered together in the hall, waiting for Irina, who arrived a minute later in a catsuit. Then they sat into the van and drove to the mansion. They stopped behind it and unpacked the portable computer set.

" Before entering the house, we need someone to watch our backs from here." Irina said. She tried to look like she was thinking who to choose, but deep inside, Amy knew that she had already made up her mind.

" Ian, you'll stay." She said finally, giving him a laptop. " Your job is to observe the mission through the satellites. If you see any bad signs, you 'll call for backup. Understood?" It was clear that the woman didn't trust the boy.

 _"She might have given him this position, because she expects no complications to come."_ Amy thought.

Then Irina turned to her.

" There's an old underground tunnel to the house, but that's all the information we have. I am going to go and check it out and I want _you_ to come with me." The eyes of the girl widened.

 _" Me? But why? Nikolai is stronger and more experienced than me..."_ She thought.

From the look on Niko's face, she wasn't the only one wondering about it.

" And what about me?" He asked, although he knew the reply really well.

" You'll wait for me to call you in." Irina said with annoyance in her voice.

The boy felt a nearly unresistable temptation to tell her something like: " Mom, I'm not a baby!" or " Mother, there's no need to worry, I've completed harder missions than this one!", but he knew it would make nothing, but his mother angry.

He just couldn't understand why she got so anxious about him when they had an operation together once in a century, while she was sending him into the middle of a gunfight every week. But before he could have done anything, Irina and Amy had faded away.

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The tunnel was narrow and its floor was extremely slippery. According to Irina, it was built in World War II. to be a shelter when the Germans were bombing the city. Although it looked massive, Amy couldn't help being afraid of the walls giving in and falling on her head.

They had been walking silently for about 10 minutes, when Irina stopped and looked up to the ceiling.

" There's a tiny door hidden there." She said. " Could you help me?"

Amy nodded and crouched so that the woman could step on her back.

Irina made her way to the high entrance and pushed it open. Then she climbed up, stretching her hands to Amy, pulling the girl up to her.

They arrived to the inner garden of the mansion with tons of plants and a big fountain in the middle. Buildings surrounded them from every direction.

" If I'm right, the command centre is there on the third floor." Irina whispered, pointing at the east wing of the complex. Amy wanted to ask her something, but then their torch had been turned off. The woman pushed her to the ground, pressing her hands on her mouth.

A night guard walked past them, yawning. It was a wonder he didn't notice them behind the tree.

After he left, the two agents stood up, but before starting their journey to the east wing, Irina grabbed Amy's cloth pulling her closer. Her two blue eyes seemed frightening as the lights illuminated them.

" It's not a joke, Cahill!" She murmured to her ears. It was the first time she called the girl on her surname. " One more mistake like that and we are dead."

" S... s... so..." Amy wanted to say sorry, but her old stuttering came back, making her unable to speak.

But Irina paid no more attention to her. She sneaked to the side of the building and threw the rope connected to her belt onto an ornament on the wall, near a window. Then, she waved to Ames impatiently.

The girl approached her, trying to copy all the moves of the woman, but mostly she couldn't succeed. Irina was just rolling her eyes.

When she finally arrived, the spy caught her wirst and pulled the rope two times. This movement activated a mechanism in the belt, making them rise from the ground.

To their surprise, the window wasn't closed, so they could open it and jump into the room.

 _The moment their feet touched the floor, the lights turned on, making the three adults waiting for them visible._

* * *

 **Sorry guys, I'm sorta cliffhanger maniac... Bye!**


	22. Breakout

**Lol, I'm getting horrible with giving titles... XD**

 **Ch 22 is here anyway:**

* * *

Chapter 22

 _" What's going on?_ " The more times Nikolai looked at his watch, the more worried he became.

For about a half an hour, they had been sitting in the van, trying to connect the laptop Ian received with the Lucian strongholds.

" Somehow it cannot catch any signal." Ian said sadly. " Something must disturb it."

Nikolai looked at him.

 _" At least Ian has something handy to do."_ He thought. _" All that's left for me is waiting, then act like an enthusiastic idiot when mum comes out of that damn house with that even damner gem."_ He growled to himself.

" But when will they come?" He said this out loud, so that Ian could hear it too.

" I don't know." He replied with his gaze still on the screen.

Nikolai made up his mind.

" I'll go after them." He announced. " Don't worry, I'll say that you had no chance stopping me." He smiled at Ian, but before he left the room, the other boy shouted.

" Yesssss!"

Nikolai had never seen him in such a good mood before. " Don't worry, I didn't enjoy your company either." He frowned.

Ian laughed. " Don't take it personal, Spasky! I just connected to the network."

But his laughter died down as he saw the picture the satellites provided him.

It was inside the house, that's why the quality of it wasn't the best, but he could still see two peple sitting – maybe on chairs – and three others standing around them. It was unequivocal what he just saw, but he couldn't believe his eyes.

 _" The legendary Irina Spasky caught? With Amy?"_

He couldn't help thinking about the reddish-brown haired girl. He stood up. He knew one thing for sure: he had to save the girl – no matter what it takes.

With an amazing agility, he ran out of the van, but that was only hardly enough to catch up with Niko rushing to the mansion.

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Irina and Amy had been tied to their chairs, back to back, so that they couldn't see eachother's faces.

The man in a completely black outfit was standing at the door. The woman stayed in the shadows, making her face unable to see. The third one, a guy in strange clothes reminding her of a mixture of a rebel and a shipwreck survivor, stood next to them, _smiling_ at her.

" I haven't seen you for ages, Irina!" Fiske Cahill walked closer to them.

" You? How you dare, you bloody Madrigal?! " If Irina had been able to kill with her eyes, Fiske would have died for sure. " Don't just stare at me, you asshole! Let us go before... "

" Before what?" Erasmus laughed. " Do you really think that after we managed to defeat a bunch of Janus guards and _YOU_ too, we should have anything to be afraid of?"

Irina started behaving like Alana when she lost a chess game, but Amy could feel the spies arms moving rapidly.

 _" She is just acting to take away their attention."_ The girl thought. _" While she's making us free."_

However, in this situation, she had no idea what to do.

On one hand, Uncle Fiske stood on her side – at least before Isabel's trip – and she couldn't even raise a hand against him or Erasmus...or the woman, whoes face she couldn't see.

But she was familiar. The way she stood there made a memory come alive in front of Amy's eyes.

 _" The cake is ready! Happy birthday, darling!" Her mother said, smiling at her with a huge, star shaped cake. Of course her brother ran there, starting his all day dweebing, pulling her father with him._

 _"Mum!"_ Amy wanted to shout, but the next time she came conscious, Irina had her hands on her wrist again, trying to get out of the room with her.

" It's not the time for dreaming!" She shouted angrily, kicking Erasmus with her leg, but Amy didn't care.

She broke out of the Irina's iron grip and started running towards her mother.

" Amy?" Irina asked desperately. She didn't want to leave the child with the Madrigals, but if she keeps behaving this way, she won't have any other option.

Strangely, it was like Hope was shaking her head.

Then the girl understood: she was still undercover.

And if she didn't want to identify Nataliya as the Madrigal spy, she would stay with the

Lucians.

She nodded to her mother and slapped Fiske with her right hand, with remorse on her face. She made the whole incident look like she attacked the enemies.

Then she ran outside after Irina.

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When Nikolai and Ian reached the door of the garden, they could see Amy and Irina running for their lives from other agents.

Then one of them dressed in black – or at least that was what Niko saw in the dark – grabbed his mother's hand. She was fighting for release, but she couldn't get rid of him.

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" Put your hands off me!" Irina shouted desperately.

Then someone came next to her and Erasmus and hit the face of the man with such power, that even the sound of it hurt her ears. Then she looked up at him dazed.

" Never ever get close to my mum again!" Nikolai Spasky shouted with furry in his eyes. Amy had never seen this side of him before, but honestly, the cruellness of him scared her.

But before Nikolai could have done any harm to the man, Irina nodded to him.

The group ran to the van, driving back to the safe house. Then they fell asleep.

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Amy was left alone with her thoughts about her family, the reunion with them and Nikolai's wild expression.

But these weren't the worst things in her head.

 _"What if I failed everything? Would Irina still believe that I'm on her side? And what's more, what if she wouldn't?"_

* * *

 **AAANNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDD... Question time!**

 **1\. What do you think the next step of the Madrigals will be?**

 **2\. Does Irina still believe in Nataliya's innocense?**

 **3\. How is the story goin'? :)**


	23. Decision

**Here is Chapter 23, have fun reading it!**

* * *

Chapter 23

Sinead Starling had been working in the laboratory of her dreams for days.

However, she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing.

The conversation with the man freaked her out, making her unable to do anything, but work.

Her task was to figure out the source of the anomalies caused by the _Fuegpiedra_.

At the start, the whole thing seemed insanity, but the deeper she looked into her research, the more logical – _and more tragical_ – reasons turned up.

That time, she was checking the piece of cloth she received from the Ekat who brought her there. He said it was found near the place where the gem might have been used, but Sinead felt with her instincts that he wasn't telling the full truth.

As she wanted to put the material under a special scanning light, she saw a little label attached to it. Without thinking, she started reading its inscription.

Prada

100% Silk

Summer collection, 2010

Sinead rose an eyebrow.

 _" It's 2015 now."_ She thought. _" So why the hell would somebody rich enough to buy such designer clothes wear one which was only fashionable 5 yers ago?"_

Of course, it wasn't unbelievable, but it sounded still strange. Especially for someone who automatically associated expensive clothes with the name "Kabra".

Anyway, it was impossible for any of the above mentioned to be there: Ian was in the mansion the time the gem might have been used, Vikram was in Moscow for sure and the other ones... Isabel and Natalie died.

 _" Stop thinking about such unrational bullshit, your brain is just making an idiot of you!"_ She reprimanded herself, than returned to her beloved experiments.

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Three floors under the lab, two hostages were laying on the ground, unable to move.

" It's the last time I ask you" A tall, muscular man said. " Where is the stone?"

Isabel Kabra bit her lips. She knew, she couldn't give the _Fuegpiedra_ away, but on the other hand, she didn't want to die either.

" I don't know!" She lied. " It must have fallen out my pocket before!"

" You do." The man pushed the dagger closer to her throat. She could feel that there was no way out.

" If it had fallen out before, how it is possible, that a fake one was found in your purse?" The man growled in anger. Tell me now, where to find it or I'll kill you, snake!"

A red line appeared on her neck. She closed her eyes, getting ready to die, but then a voice came out of nowhere, accompanied by a gunshot.

" Anton, stop!" Isabel opened her eyes. An older man in an olive coloured suit stood in front of her.

" You!?" The woman stood up with her last energy and started running to him with unstoppable furry to hit him.

However, Anton caught her arm and pushed her to the floor.

" Oh, Cousin!" The man smiled, but took a step back. Then he turned to Anton.

" Take the girl and give her poison 368." He looked cheerfully at Natalie. " It's marvellous to learn from other branches, right? Although the Lucians are the pros in this area, the Ekats could develop a special serum, too. Just for your information, poison 368 is made of a really rare, tropical plant. It is brilliant, it can kill an adult in about 10 minutes. Such a horrible death, isn't it? I hope your mother will tell us where she'd hidden that gem or I'm afraid, you will experience how it goes."

Smirking, Anton took a syringe into his hands and pressed it into the girl's shoulder.

" The countdown has started. If you tell us what we want to know, we'll give her the antidote." The Korean man told Isabel. " Have fun!" With these words, he left.

" No way!" Isabel shouted, letting her old self return for a second, but then she shut up - right when Natalie started trembling on the floor, crying.

The woman knew that the girl had only mintes to live, but she wasn't the one giving out important information to save others.

" So?" Anton looked at her with undivided attention.

Isabel was about to tell him something that would be more than rude, but then she heard Natalie groaning.

" D...don't tell...don't tell him!" She muttered.

That moment, something came into the surface inside of Isabel. Something that had been doubted to exist before. _Humanity... and love._

" Give her the antidote, now!" she begged desperately, but she saw in the man's eyes, than he would do nothing, unless...

Isabel took a deep breath, then muttered something.

" Could you repeat it, please?" Anton smiled.

" It's..." She couldn't make it. It was just against her personality.

Natalie's head was laying on her lap. Although the girl tried to show nothing, Isabel could feel that she was suffering. The pretty face of her turned paler and paler and her body was losing her body-heat.

Isabel shook her head. She never cared for others, so why would she do so now?

And how many minutes had passed?

She stared deep into her daughter's amber irises.

Memories flashed back in her head.

 _A baby crying all night long and calm down only when her mother took her into her arms._

 _A little girl running towards her, holding two icecreams._

 _" This one is for you, mummy!" she said, but Isabel turned her down, saying that there were too many calories in the product._

And finally the last one, haunting her dreams:

 _Two bodies... She pulled down the black blanket of the smaller one... The shock... Vesper One's evil laughter..._

The woman did it without thinking.

" It's on the Cahill Island." She said with crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks.

* * *

 **I hope you liked it! C ya later!**


	24. An Hour After Midnight

Chapter 24

Loads of children can be heard dreaming of becoming spies. They think it's cool and interesting. Maybe it was Nataliya's opinion as a little girl, too.

However, it was changed by the years and experience.

Especially when she had to sneak into places without being seen – _just like this time_.

She was ordered to take the plans of Mission Firestone from Irina's desk, copy it and put the fake document back, while sending the original one to the Madrigals. Usually, she didn't complain about her tasks, no matter how difficult they were, but days ago, the confrontation with Alana changed everything.

Everyone in the stronghold knew that she had a bad relationship with the secretary and although noone was shown to suspect her to be Flores' attacker, the agents became more and more aware of her actions.

In real, they all knew that Nataliya was a close friend of their leaders and this made them think that she received her important position just because of them. And what was the consequence? Everybody was jealous of her, no matter how kind she was to them.

Nataliya opened the door of Irina's office slowly. It was 1 o'clock in the morning, so there was noone to come across.

The room was painted white and there was a Lucian crest – similar to Nataliya's – on its wall.

The desk in the middle of it was made of iron and it had a touchpad part, attached to a state-of-the-art computer. However, Irina semmingly didn't appreciate it: there were mountains of paper put on it in order.

Luckily, it wasn't hard to find the document the woman wanted – it was right on the top of a little pile. Nataliya took it out of its dossier and ran to fotocopy it, then put one of the files back to the desk. It was important to place it right where it was previously, because Irina's eagle eyes would find out about the burglary in no time.

Everything went as planned, but as she was about to start her journey back to her own office, she heard voices. Mr. Spasky was talking on his phone, approaching her.

Nataliya's heart stopped throbbing for a second.

She hurried back to Irina's room and closed the door carefully.

Unfortunately, the man was heading to the same location. Right before he could have seen her, Nataliya climbed under the desk, freezing from fear.

" Da." The man said into the phone. " Nyet, nyet, it's Ok."

 _"Irina must have arrived back from the mission with the children."_ She thought, feeling relieved that her beloved ones were allright.

But then, the conversation swapped into a strange part.

" What? She told you where the stone was?" Nikilovana's eyes widened. " Da, da, that's wonderful!" Then, for a split second, his face turned from cheerful to grave.

" No, of course, I won't tell her about it." He smiled. " If I'm not wrong, they are leaving for Boston at 6:00 to catch the Madrigals. They think that they have a clue about the _Fuegpiedra_. " He was laughing this time. " Well at least she can show them her feared side... It would be essential to her respect after letting them make an idiot of her."

Then, the man took something from the desk. It was the new copy of the Firestone file.

He left the room still talking to the mysterious person on his phone.

But the thing freaked Nataliya out was his last sentence he pronunced when he was already in the corridor.

 _"_ _I know it's hard, but as my old friend, Ruslan Radov always said: there's no paradise without sacrifice."_


	25. The Letter

**Hey! Here's Ch 25. :D**

* * *

Chapter 25

" Eisenhower, how many times do I have to say that we weren't the ones attacking your agents?" Grace Cahill had always been a patient person, but this time the Tomas leader was reaching the limit.

The day Fiske, Hope and Erasmus arrived back from the mission, all the woman wanted to do

was flying to London and get Amy back.

Instead, she had to listen to Mr. Holt, who visited her to demand to get back the agent found half-dead some days ago.

The Tomas leadership thought that Grace's henchmen killed their spies who were chasing Isabel Kabra and unfortunatelly, the other branches had the same opinion.

" Do you think we're insane? Do you think we're foolish?" Cora Wizard said in a dramatical voice - no wonder, she was a Janus.

To Grace's surprise, she arrived the same time as Eisenhower did. They teamed up to form a stronger union against her and the Madrigals to 'interrogate' them about the _Fuegpiedra_.

 _" How ironic,"_ Grace thought _" I've been working to reunite the family all my life, but I couldn't succeed. However, when it's about fighting against the ones going for peace, they can stick together with no problem."_

" Grace," Mr. Oh smiled encouragingly. He represented the Ekats, only the Lucians hadn't turned up. " We have the right to know about the gem, this affair concerns to the whole Cahill clan."

Grace took a deep breath. She felt terribly offended. She wasn't lieing when she confessed that she knew nothing more about the gem than anyone else in the room.

Finally, it was Fiske, who saved the situation.

" We told you every information we owned. Now, we are waiting for the injured Tomas agent to come conscious. If we have further news, we'll immediately inform you." He said as he nodded to Erasmus at the end of the room.

The agent opened the door and led out the furious visitors.

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An hour later, Grace was sitting with Saladin on her lap in her room.

Fiske looked at her nervously. Right after returning from London, he told his sister everything about Isabel and her plan - he had no other choice.

" We must organize a rescue team for Amy." The woman said, caressing the fluffy fur of the cat. Fiske wanted to reply, but he was interrupted.

" Madame, I've received an e-mail from NRR." McIntyre ran into the room.

" That's not the best timing, William." Grace frowned. " Someone, maybe an outcast, " she shivered " is about to assault us. The Lucians can wait."

But the lawyer put an envelope into her hands. "I'm sorry, but this is urgent. This might be the missing piece of the puzzle." He said.

The woman opened it. There was the printed plan of Operation Firestone inside. As she lifted it up, a piece of paper fell out of it.

Grace took it and started reading carefully.

.

Dear _G_ ,

Last night I overheard a phone call between _S_ and another person, whose identity was not revealed.

They all knew about the _F_. The unknown interlocutor said that _K_ (?) gave away location of F.

Then _S_ assured him/her that he would not tell _I_ (?) about it.

He also said that _I_ _and the children_ (?) were going to _B_.

I do not know what is happening, but the _L_ are getting prepared for something big.

I am afraid, my activities are being monitored, so I will not be able to access to the M server for a while.

Watch your back!

 _NRR_

 _._

"Insanity" was the first word comming out Fiske's mouth as he finished reading above Grace's shoulder.

" Do they really know, where the Fuegpiedra is? And what does the _B_ stand for?" He asked.

" That's not our real problem right now." Grace muttered with a little sign of fear in her eyes. " From the way Nataliya was writing, it came clear that the one talking to Spasky, the one who must be the 'puppeteer' in this case, is conceivably not a Lucian."

Grace peered at the paper. " Today, we had three branches asking questions, but concluding from this letter, one of them knew initially more than we did." She said.

Fiske glared at her. " Then? What do you mean with all this?"

The woman looked right into his eyes.

 _" Someone is trying to turn the branches against us."_

* * *

 **So, that's it. Well, it was rather like a little episode, but still important.**

 **I hope you liked it! ;)**


	26. A Shopacholic Spy and a Brave Scientist

**Chapter 26 is here! :D**

* * *

Chapter 26

 _Location: Attleboro, Boston, USA_

Having a master spy mom has its advantages, but it doesn't mean that it comes with no dark side.

For example, if she is a nail-polish maniac, it can happen that you find yourself sitting on a bench with an impatient Cobra and a bookworm, waiting outside for her to choose some new coloured products from the shop.

Nikolai growled. There was a huge city to discover and he was just wasting his time there.

" I cannot imagne what takes so long!" Ian said.

It was strange for Amy to hear the boy speak this way. Before the past was changed, he had been the one who could stand for hours in front of two ties to buy one.

" It depends on the number of the shades." Niko said. He looked extremely bored. " Once, she could get ready in two hours time." Amy checked her watch. If Irina stays there for so much time, they've got 15 minutes more to wait.

" Her other record is five hours." Nikolai continued, making his audience's face turn white.

Then, the door of the shop opened.

The three children moved as one person. They all stood up and approached it.

Unfortunatelly, it was only good to make them disappointed. It wasn't Irina coming out, just another woman in elegant designer clothes.

" Don't worry, she is coming." She smiled at the children with fake symphaty.

Melinda Toth.

Amy couldn't help staring at her.

 _" What is she doing here?"_ She asked herself.

The girl was getting ready for the possible attack, but the woman just walked away.

Toth was right, anyway: a minute later, Irina appeared with an infuriated look on her face.

She was muttering something from anger, something that rather sounded like " Americans!".

" Mother, what's wrong?" Nikolai asked.

He had known her long enough to realise that in such situations, there were two choices: he could either stay quiet and face his grumpy mum the whole day or ask about the problem and survive the conversaton at once.

So that time, he picked the second option, but to his surprise, Irina told him nearly nothing.

" These idiots ran out of dark blue nail-polish!" She sighed. " I guess, I'm getting homesick."

Suddenly, the gaze of Amy and Ian met. Although the boy wasn't totaly his initial self, the old, cunning Kabra hadn't disappeared. And at that moment, he was undoubtedly thinking about the same the things.

-It was strange that the woman got mad because of a missing colour.

-Then, Irina Spasky and Melinda Toth meeting? What a coincidence!

-And at last: Why did the ex-KGB agent put the needles on her manicure?

 _" They must have had a meeting."_ Amy supposed. A bad feeling – similar to terror – started crawling under her skin, filling her soul with desperation. _" What did Melinda tell her?"_

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 _Location: Classified_

Sinead had terrible working hours. She started at 6:00 am and finished at 7 o'clock, in the evening.

After she finished, she sat in her room and started to wonder about the events of the day.

She was still trying to discover the negative effects of time travel, but secretly, she began another research. She wanted to know the reason for her being able to remember everything, while the others knew nothing about the _initial_ past.

Although newer and newer results came to the surface, she wasn't sure of herself. According to some of the sources, the _Fuegpiedra_ had some kind of action-radius, but this contradicted the laws of physics and the human logic. However, at that point, Sinead'd lived through that many things described as _irrational_ , that she didn't care.

So her theory was that the stone was used while she was sitting on a plane, which was so high, that it came out of the influence of the gem.

But this thought conducted to more and more problems.

 _" Amy, Ham, Jonah were flying the same time I did."_ She thought _." If my conclusions are right, they are in deadly danger."_

It was like that all her weariness evaporated, letting place to determination and bravery.

With her friends in danger, it came pointless for her to stay a second more in that madness.

She stood up and opened the door of her room.

" Don't worry guys, " she said with shiny eyes " I'm coming!"

* * *

 **Oh yes, Sinead is back to action! :)  
But she won't go alone... Um, anyway, did this sentence sound like a spoiler to you? Not really? Well, it was one anyway...  
So, any guesses about her company? o.o **


	27. Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 27

The corridor was narrow and the further Sinead got, the darker it became. After an hour of non-stop walking, the girl felt lost.

" What a stupid idea it was to leave my room without a map! This building is nothing, but a maze!" She scolded herself silently.

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a thin, powerless voice echoing from the walls.

" Sinead?" It sounded somehow familiar to the girl, but she had no idea from where.

" Awesome!" She muttered to herself. " Ghosts." She rolled her eyes.

" It must be that traitorous Starling." Someone else growled. " Set us free, now!"

Sinead froze. The research on the _Fuegpiedra_ must have made her mad.

It wasn't that she didn't recognise the voice, the real problem was that she did perfectly knew who it belonged to.

Silky tone with unmistakable British accent...

" Natalie, Isabel?" The girl looked around her with disbelief.

" Yes, you computer-brained idiot! We are here, open that damn door and let us go!" Isabel Kabra hissed.

Sinead tried to follow her voice and in the end, she collided with iron bars.

" Look, somebody has finally arrived." Isabel said with owerwhelming irony.

" Sinead, are you all right?" Natalie wishpered slowly.

" Yes, thanks." Sinead put her hand on her forehead. She could only hope that it wouldn't turn blue from the hit the next day. " By the way, how could you survive..."

" Ohh come on, what do you think a time-traveling gem is good for?" Isabel interrupted.

" Fair enough." Sinead replied. _"Seems from today, I have to take every paranormal phenomenon for granted."_ The girl thought.

" Where is the key?" She asked finally.

" The last time I saw it, it was on the guards' desk in the opposite room." Natalie answered.

" There's a light switch next to you." Her mother said. " Generally, I would say that the darkness comes handy, but this time with you moving and making noise just like a big, muddy, filthy... um... so, like an elephant..."

Sinead didn't feel the need of listening to any of Isabel's rude words, so she just walked a bit further, trying to get to the other door. _There was no way she would make fun of herself in front of that witch._

When she reached it, she started searching on the wall. Suddenly, her hands got to a small, metal object.

The handle!

Sinead pushed it, praying for noone being inside.

As she got in, the lights blinded her for a moment.

Fortunately, the room was empty, but from the fact that the lights hadn't been switched off, she felt that it could change in no time.

She rushed to the desk, seeking for a key.

" Got ya!" she shouted when she finally found it, but the triumphant expression on her face vanished instantly.

There was a tall, muscular guard looking down at her.

" Miss Starling, what are you doing here?"

Sinead stopped for a minute. She couldn't make up any excuse for being there, but on the other hand, the man was far stronger than her.

Her reaction was unpredictable. She threw the key away. The guard dodged it, laughing, then grabbed her throat.

" Next time, you should learn how to aim at first." He smiled. " Oh, sorry, I nearly forgot that there would be _no_ _next time_!"

Sinead could feel the power and oxygen leave her body. She was suffocating.

But right before she could have ran out of air, the iron grip of the man loosened.

Then, he let go of her.

Sinead opened her eyes and faced Isabel with a wide smirk on her face. She had a bloody knife in one of her hands.

" Oh my..." Sinead couldn't find the right words. Her plan worked: she could throw the keys to the two hostages, so that they could open the lock and help her, but she had never expected the _Queen of Poisoners_ to stand on her side.

" Hey, geek, what are you looking at?" The woman asked.

" Is he dead?" Natalie sneaked to them.

" No, the wound is not fatal, for Gondess' sake!" Her mother looked annoyed. " We have just minutes before our absence gets noticed. We must leave, now! " And with this, she pushed Natalie and Sinead out of the door, searching for the exit.


	28. Dark Clouds

**Hi Guys! I am back and I've brought you Chapter 28 too. It's long as hell lol! XD**

 **I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

Chapter 28

 _A day before_

It was just a little stumble, but still fatal.

A day ago, Nataliya finally decided to incinerate the picture taken of her stealing information previously. She nearly lit it, when Alek rushed into her room.

He needed some help with a research.

" Nata," He started to say, but as he got closer, he was surprised by the sight of the woman holding a burning match and a little paper in her hands. " what are you doing?"

" Oh, I'm getting rid of some outdated documents." She smiled, trying to hide the fear sending shivers down her spine.

Alek rose an eyebrow. Nataliya was the one collecting everything, storing each piece in her cupboard. " That looks like a photograph. Can I see it?" He asked.

" Come on, it's just..." She had no idea what to say. If something came suspicious to the man, he would always investigate it. Her only chance left was making the object dull in his eyes – or embarrassing t see. "...it's just an old photo of one of my... you know... former boyfriend." She said, feeling proud of her creativity.

 _" Nice job!"_ She smiled to herself. _" There's no way a normal man would..."_

However, even the most stupid person on Earth would know, that Alek Spasky could be described with any words, but ordinary.

As Nataliya's hand holding the match came an inch closer to the picture, Alek grabbed it and started staring at it.

The woman took a deep breath. It was done. Or rather: _she_ was done.

They were there, motionless, looking at eachother.

Nataliya was waiting for the man to shout her head off or swear, but in the end, without a word, Alek opened the door and left her alone.

 _" What now?"_ She wished to ask herself, but the voice of Alana Flores interrupted her thoughts.

" Your poison wasn't strong enough, snake!" She smiled, appearing with Nikilovana on her left. " And now poor devil Alek knows about that too. What a scandal!"

" I..." Nataliya started, looking at the branch leader.

" If I were you, I would stay quiet." Mr. Spasky said. " We've already seen enough." He looked in a disappointed way at her. " You know, Nataliya, I believed you until the end."

The woman felt like sobbing. "What would dad your say, if he saw you?" The man continued. " He lived for his branch and now his daughter is destroying what he'd been working for all his life."

" I..." Nataliya tried to say something, but her voice was lost in the noise made by the more and more agents surrounding them.

" I'm afraid, you must come with me, madam."A strong guard came to escort her to the Interrogation Room.

 _" The great, old leader's daughter turned out to be a double-agent"_ She could hear the gossip spread while walking on the neverending corridors of the stronghold.

She looked around, praying to see Alek one last time, but the man hadn't shown up anymore.

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 _Location: Attleboro, Boston, USA_

"...So, we could use this entrance to break in and come out this way. There's where Grace sleeps. Then we can kidnap her and..." Nikolai and Ian were looking at the layout of the Cahill Mansion. They had been making up newer and newer plans for hours. Sometimes they looked up from the papers for confirmation from Irina.

" Nice job, guys!" The woman said, but everyone there could see that her thoughts were far away.

 _" What did Melinda tell her?"_ Amy asked herself over and over again. She felt safe no more.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Irina putting an arm on her shoulder. Amy was shocked. The woman was ice cold and although it could have been a gesture of kindness, all the girl could feel was danger.

" Would you mind having a walk with me?" The woman asked smiling at her. Amy knew that she couldn't refuse the request, so she followed the woman.

They were walking down the stairs of the old flat they've got to stay in.

" It must be hard for you." Irina said silently.

" What do you mean?" Amy asked.

" Well, you've been called here from...um..."

" France." Amy said, remembering what Nataliya told Irina when she introduced her.

" Oh, yes, of course and now you have to work with two boys fighting all the way." The woman said.

" No, it's not like that." Amy tried to protest, but Irina shook her head.

" I know how you feel. I've been to such missions before. On one of them, I'd met my husband." She smiled. " You know, he was behaving the same way when he got to know me as Nikolai."

 _" Oh, no!"_ Amy groaned to herself. She didn't want a conversation about her feelings towards Niko – especially not with Irina.

The woman must have seen something from her expression, because she changed themes really fast.

" Nevermind! I've called you with another purpose." She paused. " I just wanted to say sorry for my coarseness in London. You know, I was just overstressed. In real, you did really well."

" No problem and thank you!" Amy said, but she still felt uncomfortable. She couldn't get used to the new Irina. Secretly, she prefered the woman moaning and speaking with her horrible accent, because her new self with all its charming, the passion of shopping and outfit reminded her of someone unpleasant from her past.

When the Lucian suddenly stopped, Amy found herself in a dark room, somewhere under the ground. It was chilly and dark. Irina gave Amy a jumper, so that she wouldn't get cold.

" Nataliya gave it to me for my birthday." Irina said with a strange expression. " It used to be my favourite piece of my wardrobe." She smiled. " Take care of it!"

Then, without any warning, she tossed Amy to the wall.

The girl could feel some liquid flowing to her legs before she collided with the wall and fell unconscious.

* * *

 **That's it.**

 **I nearly forgot to thank you: the number of views is over 1000 now! :D**

 **Any predictions about Nata's and Amy's fate anyway?**


	29. Drown

**This one is maybe a bit depressing, but don't worry, this period won't last for long.**

* * *

Chapter 29

Nikolai felt suspicious. His mother came back alone and looked quite upset.

" Where's Amy?" He asked.

" She had a job to do." Irina said, trying to put on a smile, but failed. She wasn't in a good mood for sure.

The boy was staring at her. There was something strange... maybe her hair... no... her outfit... something had disappeared. Niko's eyes flashed.

Irina detected his uncertainty. " What's wrong?"

" Nothing, mum... nothing really, I just feel a bit ill." He replied, moving as if he was dizzy.

The woman looked anxiously at him. In her latest nightmares, Nikolai died from a mysterious disease, so now even the minor ailments put her on maximum alert. She ran out of the room, searching for the first-aid kit.

After Irina left the room, Niko stood up, looking at Ian.

" I know, don't worry!" The Kabra said, nodding to him as the other guy left.

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When Amy got awake, the level of water in the room had already reached her hips. There was no sign of Irina and of course, the door was closed.

Panic started taking over her mind. She ran to the door, pushing, hitting it, kicking it with her legs, but the heavy iron couldn't be moved. She shouted for help, but no answer came.

She realised: there was no way to escape and what's worse, noone to help her.

She could feel pain in all her limbs.

 _" What now?"_ She asked herself desperately. She looked around, but there was nothing but massive, grey walls.

 _" The water must come from somewhere..."_ She thought. _" If I could..."_ But there was no sign of any place where the liquid could enter the room.

 _" It must be underwater"_ she thought as she put her head under the surface to see it.

And there it was: a little hole on the wall - unfortunately too small for a human to get through it.

Amy took off the jumper, trying to occlude the channel.

After she took her head out of the water, its level reached her shoulders.

She closed her eyes, praying for the flood to stop. For a minute, it looked like that the obstruction was working, but after a split second, the sky-blue piece of cloth appeared on the surface, which appeared to get to the girl's chin.

As the time passed, Amy had to start swimming to be able to breath.

She grabbed a tube on the wall, holding for dear life. However, deep inside, she knew that it was useless.

She had only minutes left.

Memories began to flash before her eyes:

 _Having picnic with her family in Grace's garden.  
Her parents taking her to the beach.  
Then, the fire and the long line of funerals.  
The clue hunt, the confrontation with the Vespers and Pierce.  
The attack of the Outcast.  
The fallen Cahills, lost friends.  
Dan's grave, empty eyes.  
And then, the time travel and all the madness.  
Finally, her brother appeared again. To Amy's surprise, Dan approached her smiling, calling her to play with him some kind of ninja game.  
Amy used to turn him down, but this time, the whole thing looked pleasant and relaxing. There was no need to think what could have happened if things had gone another way. There was no need to think anymore. Calmness filled her heart  
She grabbed her brother's hand and followed him into the darkness._

* * *

 **And ready!**

 **Well, I would happily spoiler you away, but without reviews... well you know... I'm getting sorta lazy...**

 **Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter too!**

 **I'll be back with the next one...well...I don't know when, cause I'm sorta busy now, but I'm endeavouring! ;)**


	30. Escape

**Hi people, I'm back! :D**

 **Have you seen any changes? Oh yes, I'm thinking of the cover. I thought the old one was too dull, so I changed it to this one.  
Anyway, while making it, I realised a great rule that noone should ever forget: Never ever underestimate Paint! XD**

 **Now that you know that, let's get back to our little story:**

* * *

Chapter 30

He did never care for the Lucians. They were just another option for him to get what he wanted. Power and money was everything he needed – _or at least, that was what he thought until now._

He knew that there was only one thing that could make him fall, but somehow, he couldn't avoid it. _The black dossier in his hands was just another evidence of his foolish decisions._

There were only three words written on it: a name of a special someone.

The more time he read it, the faster did the old furry fill his body.

He knew that he had to interrogate the woman sometime, but he was afraid that he could only break her neck the moment he met her. It wasn't that she betrayed her branch – again, it didn't really bother him, but she betrayed another person. _Him._

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 _" Break the gem! Shatter it before it's too late!"_ Came a female voice from out of nowhere, waking up Amy from her deep sleep.

She had no idea, what happened to her. The last time she was conscious, she was drowning, but when she opened her eyes again, she was lying on a bed between soft pillows. She looked up at the ceiling. It was covered with relieves. As she saw the familiar ornaments, calmness fell on her. A woman was sitting next to her bed.

Amy had no idea for how long she hadn't seen her grandmother smiling at her.

" How are you, darling?" Grace Cahill asked, holding one of Amy's hands.

" I'm fine, but how...?" The girl had so many things to ask, that finally she couldn't say a word. Grace gave her a kiss on her forehead.

" I'm sure we will be able to talk later." She said. " Now, all you have to do is having a rest."

Amy nodded- she was truly exhausted - but before she fell asleep she noticed a blond haired guy standing at the door without taking his eyes off her.

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The Doctor was a short man with small, black pig-eyes and a long, grey beard. He always wore a black cloak with perfect, snow white gloves. Not only his appearance, but his working area differed from the ordinary doctors healing the injured agents a floor down.

He had his own department, a complex that was simply given the name Interrogation Room, however it was rather like a huge labyrinth of torture chambers.

It wasn't a pleasant job, but he still liked it. He was the one developing the poisons for the Lucians and testing them on the unlucky enemies who got caught down there. The sadistic smile never left his mouth.

He was heading to Room 452, where that traitorous woman was held. To his disappointment, his only task was to sedate her, to make her ready for the upcomming interrogation.

 _" Not as if she needed anything to slow her down."_ He thought. _" She is as harmful as a fly on a wall."_ Then, he started laughing. His maniac voice was echoing on the dark corridors.

"I couldn't hurt her, but that doesn't mean that making her feel a bit terrified is forbidden!" He shouted out loud. His colleagues just rolled their eyes. It was an open secret that he was nuts.

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Nataliya was trying to open her handcuff which kept her tied to a chair in the middle of Room 452. Suddenly the door opened and a man came in. He put his bag on the desk and opened it, seeking for a syringe filled with green liquid inside.

" So, _the princess_ now gets her daily syringe, because she was a bad girl." The Doctor said, but before he could come any closer, the handcuff fell on the floor and Nataliya's leg kicked him, sending him flying to the corner of the room.

" _The princess_ rather has a walk." The woman smiled as she ran out of the chamber.

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Nataliya was taking her footsteps as fast as possible. She lived most of her life in the stronghold, so she knew really well how fast was the Lucians' reaction after they found something wrong.

The main protocol was that all the exits were closed whenever someone tried to escape. That meant her time was short, but she could still make it.

At first, she had to get to her office for some important documents and gadgets that were essential for her escape. Then she would get into her car and drive away.

A man saw her and tried to attack her, but she brought him down easily with a karate kick.

Most of the people who knew her thought that she was the spoilt little daughter of the old branch leader, but in real, it was just a camouflage.

Her father secretly sent her to different trainings where she learnt not only hacking and code cracking, but also things like matrial arts, shooting or parachuting. She could have been the best agent – even better than Irina herself – if she hadn't had that illness. Sometimes Nataliya wondered what could have happened if she hadn't inherited Hemophilia, but could never find the answers to her questions.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a man she succesfully ran into. She moved her hands and hit him hard but the man didn't even bat an eye. Nataliya tried again, but then he grabbed her wrists and held her with a strong iron grip.

The woman looked up at his face to meet the two iron blue eyes of Alek Spasky.

* * *

 **That's it, thanks for reading!**

 **Anyway, if you feel like reviewing, let me know your predictions about the following events.**


	31. Struggle

**Hi! Here's the next part. ;)**

 **It's just strange that it's Chapter 31 already, isn't it?**

* * *

Chapter 31

She had to get away. No matter what. No matter how.

The woman started biting, kicking with her legs, trying to free her hands. She used all her knowledge in matrial arts, but the whole thing made no sense: the man was pulling her all along the corridor into a room.

 _Cold and cruel._

When Nataliya's gaze met his again, these were the two words comming up in her mind. She had never met this side of Alek before. He used to be kind and soft to her, but that time he was his old assassin self, rough and fatal.

Deep inside, she knew that she had no chance against him, all she could hope was that he would show a little mercy on her.

Alek was holding her with one of his hands and began to spin a metal rod with the ring on his finger. Nataliya was wondering when he would throw and transform it to a spear.

 _" It's over."_ She thought. She determined that she wouldn't plead for his pardon or generousness. If she had to die, she would do it with all her dignity and pride.

She closed her eyes, getting ready for the sharp weapon to enter her body. Even thought only seconds passed, it still felt like that she'd spent centuries waiting. Then she could hear a hush as the metal object started its way to its target.

To her surprise, she couldn't feel any pain. She opened her eyes and realised that she was still standing next to Alek, but the man paid no attention to her anymore. Instead, he was staring at the other man who entered the room not so long ago. The spear was hanging from the door, only inches away from his head.

" Out, now, you idiot!" He yelled as the terrified agent rushed away.

 _" Now or never!"_ Nataliya told herself and got free, starting her way towards the door. Then, another spear collided to it, closing it in front of her.

Nataliya looked at the shiny blade of it with disbelief, then took it off the wooden surface and turned back to the man.

 _Maybe he caught her. Maybe she had only seconds left. But she would fight until her last breath._

" Don't come any closer or I will..." She shouted to Alek, but the man didn't stop.

" You cannot even use it." He said, showing his infamous smile. In real, the threat seemingly encouraged him to further action.

" I won't tell you again!" She tightened her grip on the metal object, turning all of her fingers white.

" Nata, Nata," Alek laughed, standing less than a metre away from her. The woman could feel the heat of his body, and the warm air he was breathing out. " you have my last spear."

Nataliya's eyes widened. That time, she was the one winning, but she had only one shot.

She rose her hand with the weapon, which felt ice cold.

Her or him. As easy as that.

Nataliya hesitated.

 _" Why is he so calm?"_ She asked herself. She started boring into his eyes. It was like entering another dimension, diving into the deep blue sea. Her body was paralyzed.

She realised that she couldn't make it. Alek was right about her weakness all the time. He knew her too well to feel any fear. She couldn't kill him or even hurt him.

The woman let out a little gasp. She began to walk backwards slowly without taking her eyes off the man. She had to reach the door.

Without any warning, Alek sneaked to her, his movement fading into a blur. When Nataliya got conscious, he pushed her to the wall, still grinning wide.

" Told you!" He took the spear from her and threw it away.

With the strong arms around her and his muscular body pushed to hers, the woman felt a huge temptation to snuggle to him.

Alek leaned closer, shimmering her dark hair.

" I'm sorry." He whispered to her ear, pushing a syringe into her back.

Nataliya's eyes widened. She started feeling numb, everything was getting faint. The world started spinning before her eyes. If Alek hadn't been holding her, she would have fallen to the floor. Her vision went black. She panicked, then felt Alek's lips on hers.

He kissed her passionately one last time.


	32. Three Fugitives

**Hi everyone, I'm back and so is our little story:**

* * *

Chapter 32

" Sir," The woman started to speak, but the man on the other side of the room wasn't listening.

" You have ten seconds to disappear." He told her.

" But Sir," Patricia Oh tried to hide her shivering – unsuccesfully. " I know that we've made a fatal mistake, but we will undoubtedly correct it."

 _" Nine."_

" We can still catch them." She continued, not caring for the countdown.

 _" Eight."_

" We've sent all our agents to the Cahill Island. Even without her, we could find the..."

 _" Seven."_

" Sir!" Patricia's eyes widened. She knew that letting Starling leave with the hostages, Isabel and Natalie, infuriated the man, but he had been calm and forgiving to her all the time...

Untill that day.

 _" Six."_ Two of the henchmen began to walk towards her.

 _" Uncle!"_

 _" Five."_ She knew that she had to beg for pardon if she wanted to get out alive.

" I am terribly sorry for what happened and I am sure that I will be able negotiate everything needed to solve the problem." She said.

 _" Four."_

" Uncle, please, just one last chance!" She prayed.

 _" Three"_

" Uncle, you know me." The woman said desperately. " You know that I would never let you down! I'm not like Uncle Bae! I would never betray you!" She cried desperately.

The next moment, the man stayed quiet.

 _" I won."_ Patricia thought with relief. Then her uncle smiled, still keeping his gaze on his walking stick in his hands.

 _" Zero."_

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" So, Miss Iknoweverythingbetter, where are we?" Sinead asked Isabel with an annoyed expression on her face. They had been walking for one or two days – Who the hell counted them? – in the middle of nothing.

" I told you, they gave me the antidote of the Master Serum when they caught me." Isabel hissed. The conditions had undoubtedly driven her crazy. Although it was Natalie, who Sinead suspected to be the most queasy one in the group, her mother truly outstripped her. She was making tantrums in every ten minutes.

" And you cannot use your brain without any serum, can you?" Sinead replied. She saw the warning look of Natalie, but couldn't help it.

" Maybe if you made a gadget with your super Ekat skills..." Isabel said ironically.

" Of dust or what?" Sinead asked. " I need materials to work on."

Then Natalie shouted. " Look, there's a car! Maybe it can bring us back to civilization!"

She started jumping up and down and to their luck, the driver stopped immediately.

" Excuse me, we need some help!" Natalie waved her hands to him.

" Help? Help?" The man sitting in the car shook his head.

" Seems he can't understand us." Sinead told her sadly.

" I DON'T CARE!" Isabel interruted. " I need a shower, new clothes, a shopping tour and..."

" Hey-o, Americano!" The man shouted cheerfully. " Americano shopping?"

" What are you talking about you filthy...?" Isabel was cut off by Sinead noding to the man, getting into the vechile, followed by Natalie.

" Mum, come!" She told her.

" We just CANNOT go with this peasant!" The woman said. " It's..."

" It's definitely a long walk to the place he came from." Sinead said. " But of course, you can go on foot. I don't want to ruin your day." She smiled.

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The journey took about two hours. That made all of the passengers bored. The driver must have noticed it, because he started to talk. From what he said, with his terrible English vocabulary, they learned that the he had a wife, four daughters and he literally told them the whole story of the family.

Natalie was surprised when she finally saw the big skyscrapers through the window of the car.

" Santiago." The man said with a dreammy voice. " Home."

" Means we're in...Argentina?!" Natalie murmured to the others.

The driver stopped at a giantic building.

" Shopping." He said finally, satisfied with himself.

But before they could have left, the man opened his hands as if he was asking for something.

" I guess he wants some money." Sinead looked at the Kabras. The two ex-billionaires' gaze met hers. They had nothing to give him.

Sinead felt that it was her job to tell the man.

" Sir, I am afraid we..."

Suddenly he started pointing at Isabel.

" He wants mum?" Natalie asked desperately. " No way!"

Isabel's eyes narrowed. " How you dare, you bloody peasant?"

Sinead knew deep inside that with this action the man sentenced himself to death. Then she saw that it wasn't the woman exactly what the guy was pointing at. It was rather her arm with a shiny little object on it.

" He wants your bracelet." Sinead said slowly.

To their surprise, this request made Isabel even more indignant than before.

" That's my charm bracelet and I won't give it to anyone." The woman said angrily.

" Mum, there's no other way." Natalie tried to persuade her.

Isabel considered it for a moment, then took the accessory down.

" I'm so proud of you!" Natalie whispered to her ears. The girl was really happy that her mother changed so much that she wanted to hug her, but then Isabel rose her hand and with the speed of a cheetah, she pushed a needle into the man's neck.

" Keep the change!" She said smiling as she got out of the car, leaving the two flabbergasted girls behind.


	33. Ignition

**Guys, I'm desperately looking for chapter titles... really. My creativity in this case came to 0%, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. o.o**

 **Anyway, R &R please, the encouragement increases my typing speed lol. :)**

* * *

Chapter 33

" Wake up! There are books. Boooooooooooooks." The boy whispered to the girl's ears. " More boooooooooooooooooookssss... A whooooole libraryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..."

" That's not working." Another one growled impatiently.

" She must have been brainwashed." Dan Cahill rose an eyebrow. " This used to make her jump up previously all the time."

Then, he got a better idea. " Wet blonde guy with terrible accent."

" Hey!" Nikolai growled again, but then saw Amy opening her eyes.

" No offense." Dan laughed. " It was a death or life issue."

" Dweeb?" Amy asked winking. Then she did the most horrible thing Dan could ever imagine. She hugged him.

" Whoah, get your hands off me, you're gonna smother me!" He said, but deep in his heart, he was happy. He had had hard days without her and the worried Magrigals didn't make it easier for him either. Fortunately, with Amy returning, everything seemed to go back to normal. Or at least that was what he thought.

However, Dan was sure that the long queue of problems weren't ended. To start with, the appearance of the son of the Lucian leaders carriing the unconscious girl to the mansion wasn't a great omen.

Of course, it also meant – as Grace said – that they could find a cooperative Lucian who could inherit the leadership in the future and may form a valuable ally, but Dan didn't care. He supposed that Nikolai only saved Amy, because he wanted something in return.

His thoughts were interrupted by the above mentioned boy asking him to leave them alone to let them have a short chat.

Dan looked at Amy for confirmation and when – to his surprise - he got it, he walked out and closed the door behind him. But instead of going back to his own room, Dan pushed his ears to the wood surface.

"They asked me to get out, not to play deaf, right?" He smiled to himself.

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" Nikolai, I'm so sorry! I never wanted to lie to you, but there was no other way." Words were Amy's mouth unstoppably, so that it was extremely hard for the boy to follow her thoughts. "I just woke up and then there was your father instead of Vikram Kabra and Irina was alive and then Nataliya told me that Isabel time travelled and that's why all of you are alive and... I have to find that gem, before the bad guys do so."

" That's..." Nikolai's eyes widened. " Have you just said that... my mother..."

That was the moment when Amy realised what she had told him. Although she knew that the guy might thing that she was mad, she had no choice, but to carry on.

" I know it sounds crazy, but she died in a fire in Indonesia years ago. And Isabel Kabra changed the past so that she is back like other people – like my parents or Grace."

Nikolai shook his head. There was something on his face Amy couldn't figure out. Then after a minute of staring at eachother, the boy stood up and was about to leave.

" You know," He turned back for the last time. " I thought you weren't one of those idiot chicks hanging around in the Lucian strongholds." He smiled. That time Amy realised how similar he was to his uncle. " At least, I was right at that point. You aren't like the Lucian girls. You are a Madrigal. A backstabbing lieing machine, to be punctual."

Then he opened the door, right to Dan's head, who had been still standing there.

" Oh, man!" He groaned, but the Lucian paid no attention to him.

Nikolai Spasky faded away, like he had never been there.

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When Dan came into the room, Amy was staring at the wall with a still face. Dan knew that she was trying not to cry, but the events of the last seconds made him forget about thoughtfullness.

" Is that true? The time travel and all the other things?" He asked.

" Yes." Amy muttered.

Dan sighed. " You know, if you want to..."

" Dan." Amy looked deep into his eyes. Her seriousness scared him. " Please call Grace and the others. I have a story to tell."

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The discussion between the Madrigal leaders took a while. They had to share every information with eachother as thorough as they could and leave nothing out.

" So the Lucians are after the stone too." Fiske nodded. " But from what Amy said, they couldn't be the ones turning the branches against us. They don't have enough infromation."

" Do you remember the assassin sent to kill that Tomas agent? " Hope asked. " I heard he got awake yesterday."

" All he told us was that he was an Ekat." Fiske growled. His gaze met Grace's, but the woman said nothing.

 _" The Outcast."_ Amy wanted to point out, but the moment wasn't appropriate.

Of course, she suspected him to be the guilty one, but knew that the mention of a branch meant nothing. This time, the bad guy could be anyone.

 _Why not Damien Vesper? Why not Pierce?_

The list of the enemies of the Cahill clan was so long, that it was impossible to figure out the identity from a letter from Nataliya and Amy's experiences in the Lucian fort.

All they could do was finding the piece of the puzzle that brought all the other ones together. The Fuegpiedra.

And no matter how cunning the Lucians were, how ingenious plans the Ekats had, how well the Janus could do matrial arts or how strong the Tomases could fight, there was only one list of the locations in Isabel's plans.

Right in the head of Amy.

 _St. Petersburg_

 _New York_

 _Boston_

 _London_

 _Boston_

 _Cahill Island_

 _" Cahill Island..."_ Amy looked up at the group of adults and her brother. " Everything ends where it had started."

* * *

 **So yeah, the truce is over, it's time for out little Cahills to get back to action.**

 **About 'battles': I just got a great idea of one to put in the story... One I always wanted to see in the books, but never happened.  
I won't tell you who vs who, but keep your eyes open and you'll soon figure it out! ;)**

 **That's it for now, thank you for reading!**


	34. Conflict

**Here I come:**

* * *

Chapter 34

 _" One leg after another...carefully...and yes, there I am!"_ Nikolai muttered to himself as he was trying to get back to his room without being seen. Any noise could wake his mother up. And he had no need for her questions. It was already late at night and he just wanted to sleep to forget everything that happened with him after his mission in Egypt.

Suddenly, he heard noises coming from Irina's room. She was having one of those nightmares. He had no idea what they were about, but he wasn't carving to find it out. Not after having seen his mum jumping up sweating, shouting his name.

On the other hand, he had his own problems too. Although he'd never told anyone about it before, he had terrible insomina. And he knew the source of it.

He could still feel the hot blankets on his body, the woman standing beside his bed, telling him tales to make him fall asleep, promising that his mother would be back from... He couldn't remember the place, but it wasn't necessary.

 _" Such an unforgetable memory,"_ He thought. _" Even though it never happened."_ He put on his pyjama and laid on his bed.

An hour later, he heard Irina call him. He walked silently to her room. It was a spacious one with mahagony furniture and a big table in the right corner of it. There were two mugs of cocoa vapouring on it.

" You still have to practice sneaking, but you've improved a lot since last time." Irina smiled offering one of the mugs to him.

" Mum, I..." He started to explain, but the woman rose a hand.

" Nevermind, just drink it." She said. " It always helps me."

" Amy..." Nikolai began again. He knew that he was rowing towards stranger tides, but he had to talk with her about it. She was his mother after all.

" Maybe it's better this way." Irina said monotonously. " But the next time we meet her, I won't let her survive."

" Right." Nikolai said, looking at the dark liquid. The woman saw the sadness in his big blue eyes.

" She isn't the only girl on Earth!" She said, smiling at him. She knew she had to change themes to make him feel better, so she started thinking about something happy. " If this madness is over, we'll have a little holiday together. Just you, daddy and I."

Nikolai looked at her.

" Somewhere exotic. What about Hawaii... or the Bahamas?" She shimmered his hair.

The boy let out a little sigh. " Just promise me something."

" Of course darling, what's that?" His mother smiled.

" We won't get any close to Indonesia."

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 _Swoosh, swoosh..._

It was amazing how similar the simulation room and the inside of the shark was. Although she had transported agents with it numerous times a day, Nataliya had never been in the vechile before.

" Look, the Sleeping Beauty is awake!" Came a voice next to her. " Had a nice nap?" Alek Spasky smirked.

" Yes." She said, still dizzy from the... From the what? Nataliya suddenly remembered everything. And the more memories flashed up, the more furious she became.

" You drugged me!" She shouted at Alek.

" Well, that was my only option left to get us out." The man seemed annoyed. " With you it could have been impossible to escape. It was even easier to carry you through the stronghold." He said coldly.

" What?" Nataliya replied indignantly. " If you hadn't got in my way, I would have..."

" Don't make me laugh." Alek rolled his eyes. " You are just a third class agent with no experience on field. The only thing that saved you was _my generousness_."

Nataliya felt tears in her eyes. " How could you say that? How could you say that after everything we went through?"

" What are you thinking about?" Alek asked with fake interest in his voice. " The time you spent with me to get my attention off the Madrigals? When you stole information behind my back while I was defending you from Alana's accusations?"

The woman couldn't say a word.

" You cannot imagine the sacrifices I did for you. And then you turn out to be a traitor. You little..."

But then, Nataliya interrupted.

" Oh, I'm so sorry for you, you poor victim everyone was lieing to!" She couldn't help laughing. " But don't worry, we'll find your beloved Isabel and you'll be able to cry on her shoulders soon."

Now it was time for Alek to get flabbergasted.

" What the hack?"

" Don't think that I'm stupid." This time Nataliya was shouting. " You're the one preaching about being betrayed, but you never cared about my feelings, did you?"

Alek's eyes widened.

" How do you think it felt for me when I saw you lieing unconscious in my apartment on the floor with a red lipstick mark on your forehead?" It was extremely hard to make Nataliya so upset, but from the signs it seemed that the man succeeded that time.

" You know what? I won't stand between you two. Just put me down at the next airport or helipad or I don't care what, you...you cold hearted asshole!" Then she started boxing into his shoulders.

" Nata..." Alek stuttered from shock. " I would never..."

Out of the blue, his phone started ringing. Nataliya took it first, checking who was calling.

" Oh, it's her again!" She said with a teasing voice of a teenage girl. " I guess, you must answer it!"

Alek took the gadget from her, frowning.

" Isabel? What the hell are you doing?"

Then came a long pause. After listening for a while, the man hang up.

" She's in Argentina with Natalie and the Starling girl and needs a plane ticket to Boston as fast as possible." He reported.

* * *

 **That's it :)**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Shhh... You're still here? You haven't seen me... OK? *hiding from the Nata+Alek shippers***


	35. Ready to Strike

**Here's the next piece, thanks for reading! :)**

* * *

Chapter 35

 _Location: Classified_

" Sir, we couldn't find it!" A man shouted.

Mr. Oh took a deep breadth. He knew that it was impossible to get the stone. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But of course, everything had a solution. And the one for this problem was even better than his initial plan.

" Let the dear cousins find the _Fuegpiedra_ first then." He smiled to himself. " They can get what they want so much. Then we will take it away!"

" Yes, Sir!" The Ekat agent said, leaving the room.

The man was left alone. He knew the job wasn't done. Not yet.

He picked up the phone. He had two calls to make.

One for the Lucians and Spasky. One for the Madrigals and Grace.

He felt like laughing.

 _" Lucians... So cunning, but still arogant."_ He thought. _" With some tricks, you can make them follow your orders blindly."_

However, they weren't the only branch with weaknesses. The Madrigals for example tended to concentrate on one direction only.

 _" When there's a fire, set another one and wait for them to extinguish eachother."_ He muttered to himself. _" Another thing Bae could never understand..."_

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 _Location: Lucian Safehouse, Boston_

With Amy disappearing, Ian got lonely. He didn't know what happened to the auburn haired girl, but he could sense the tension in the air when he asked Nikolai about her.

However, the most scary thing for him wasn't Niko's reaction. It was rather his own.

No, Amy wasn't suspicious for him before and he totally trusted her. That's why it was extremely strange that when he heard the story about the girl being a Madrigal, he wasn't even surprised. It felt like that he'd already known the truth deep inside.

The whole thing seemed so obvious that he nearly laughed to the face of the other Lucian.

 _" Huh, you cannot say it's new for you! I am a Madrigal myself."_ Ian wanted to tell the other boy, but – luckily – he stayed quiet.

 _" Am I crazy? What the hell am I thinking about?"_ He asked himself. _" I am Ian Kabra. A Lucian agent on mission."_

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The call from the Lucian stronghold came just in time to vanish his dangerous thoughts. Alana Flores, who got her dream position – Nataliya's place – informed Irina about the new aim: The Cahill Island.

" Alana, this is _my_ mission, " Irina said. " and I think, I'm on the right route. There's no need for any interaction. Tonight, we are going to visit the Madrigal agents and interrogate them."

The next voice coming from the phone wasn't the secretary's.

" Darling, " Mr. Spasky said. " I know this affair is important for you, but you must listen. You were misleaded. The Madrigals don't know anything more than us. They are heading to that so called island, because the stone is believed to be there." He paused for a moment, waiting for his wife to understand every piece of information. " We have no time to waste. Not when new problems appeared."

" New problems? What happened?"

" Nataliya escaped." Her husband said slowly. " With the help of your beloved brother."

Irina's anger turned into shock. " Alek?"

" Da, and the more time you waste in America, the closer they get to the _Fuegpiedra_." He replied. " Your boarding card for the next flight to London were placed under your bed while you were alseep."

Irina looked under the piece of furniture and discovered it.

" There's only one." She muttered.

" Because there's no need for the boys to go with you." The man said. " Just take them to the airport, then two agents will get them home."

" But..." Irina had so many to ask, but the line went dead.

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 _Location: Lucian Stronghold, Moscow, Russia_

" Was it really necessary?" Alana asked.

" You mean to put my wife to utter danger by sending her after all our enemies? Yes, I guess it was inevitable." Mr. Spasky said. He had no other choice. The Ekats made it clear that the Madrigals were already on their way to the gem and Irina was the only one who could stop them. The only one he trusted this time. All he could do was sending the special Lucian force after the agents of the other branch.

" Make sure the Madrigals won't make it to the island." He said.

Alana nodded obediently.

Mr. Spasky was about to get out of the office, when something new flashed to his brain.

" Of, I nearly forgot," He said. " connect Alek. If he decides to take that traitor back, then send some agents there to escort him in safe to us."

" And if he abandons the order?" Flores asked.

The man looked at her briefly. " Then he will experience how it is when he is the prey, not the hunter."

* * *

 **So, everyone is getting ready for the fight and I can promise you that the next part will be as action packed as possible! ;)**


	36. Hunted

**Hi everyone!**

 **Get the popcorn ready, because Chapter 36 is here!**

* * *

Chapter 36

Alek Spasky could have been described with anything, but sentimental. But when he had to change the convenience and the comfort of the Shark to a seat on a plane of the cheapest budget airline on Earth next to the still angry Nataliya, he started to look at the world a different way.

After he received the message to his mobile phone from Alana, he stopped the helicopter at the next helipad in a city and trailed Nataliya to the next airport, buyig two passes for the next plane to the UK.

So this is why they were sitting on

" I can understand why you threw away your phone, but why did you have to leave the Shark there?" Nataliya broke the silence. It was the first time she spoke after _that_ quarrel.

" It was too easy to track down." Alek said coldly. Maybe it got a bit colder than he meant it to be, because the woman turned away from him, peering out of the window.

After another hour of sitting still next to eachother, Alek tried again.

" So, is it the first time you travel by plane?" He asked, trying to put as much kindness into his voice as he could.

" Nyet." Nataliya didn't even look at him.

" Oh...ok." Alek muttered. " Then...um..." And that was the time when he saw it. Or rather _him_.

Without any warning, Alek pushed the woman into her seat, covering her with his body.

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The bullet flew only inches apart Nataliya's head and the shooting wasn't over.

The next one swooshed next to Alek's ear. It seemed like the man attacking them was a rookie, because the missed shots from such a little distance, but Alek knew him well enough to know that he was just playing with them.

" It's not good manners shooting ladies, Boris!" Alek shouted to his former colleague. Once they were the two best assassins and had missions together, but that time they had to face eachother.

" If you wanna go first!" The other man smiled, aiming at Alek's head.

" C'mon buddy, have a chat!" Alek said. He stood up and started to approach the guy slowly.

" You know, I happily would, but these bullheads doesn't like being on hold." Boris replied.

Alek rose an eyebrow and as an answer, the other passengers on board stood up.

Nataliya let out a little groan. The plane was creamed with Lucian agents.

" Maybe you should have taken the woman back instead of denying the instructions."

" Who said I denied them?" Alek asked. " We're on the plane, not the Shark as you see." He growled. " And if you don't mind, I will end my job such as we discussed it."

Nataliya looked at him with terror. " What are you talking about?"

Then Alek looked down to her with disdain. " I knew you weren't so smart, but to be honest, you still managed to make me disappointed with your brain's abilities." Nataliya wanted to push him, but he grabbed her hands.

" Bad idea, darling." He laughed.

" You!" The woman said something in Russian that needed no translation. Then Alek started to pull her to the back of the aircraft.

As they saw that, the Lucian guards sat down calmly, only Boris followed the two of them.

" There's no need for you to watch it." Alek muttered to him over his back.

" For the sake of our memories." Boris smiled. " And it would be a pleasure to see that traitor die."

Alek nodded slowly. Nataliya felt tears in her eyes, but she didn't burst out crying.

When they arrived to a door at the really end, the man ordered her to open it, but she stayed still. Finally, Alek pushed it open with one of his legs.

Boris was the last one to enter the cabin with a gun.

" So?" He asked.

" Well, I have no weapon..." Alek gestured to Boris's hand.

" Alek, Alek... you can't say that you are unable to finish her without your spears!" He smiled.

Nataliya's eyes were wandering between the two man. Are they going to kill her with their two bare hands?

Then, Alek turned to her. " I'm afraid, it's time to say goodbye."

 _" You will pay for what you've done!"_ Nataliya wanted to say, but no voice came out her mouth as she saw Alek perform a fast karate kick to the chest. But the target wasn't Nataliya.

Alek's leg hit Boris so strongly, that the man lost his balance and fell backwards, dropping his gun.

Then, without looking at the shocked woman, Alek started looking around.

 _" It must be somewhere here!"_ He muttered to himself, then he produced a parachuting bag from a shelf.

" Alek!" Nataliya shouted suddenly awakening from the shock.

" Don't worry, I am a qualified..." But the man couldn't finish the sentence, because Boris hit him hard at his temple.

"Eh, I knew you were with her." He grinned. " How is it Alek? Falling in love and betraying your own family?"

Then, Alek swung his hands with furry.

" Run!" He shouted at Nataliya. The two man started a deathmatch.

" But there's only one bag!" The woman replied histerically. " I won't leave you here."

" Woman, just obey at once!" Alek shouted back.

Boris got free and started running to the door to call the others for backup, but Alek stood in his way.

" Through my dead body." He said. His nose was bleeding and he had some new scars on his face, but otherwise, he was OK.

Then, the other man smiled, pressing a button on the wall. Then, the plane opened up, letting a view to the far ground.

" You don't have to wait for long!" He laughed. " But even though we were good friends, you must understand that the mission is before everything!" He shouted over the wind and ran to Nataliya.

 _Before anyone could react, he tossed Nataliya out of the aircraft, sending her into freefall._

* * *

 **Oh yes... cliffhanger... I know, they're annoying to read, but much better to write!**

 **Don't worry - if everything goes as planned - you only have to wait 'till tomorrow to get the next chapter.**

 **Until that: any predictions? I'm aching to know your opinion! :D**


	37. Freefall

**Hi! As I promised before, here's the next part:**

* * *

Chapter 37

The last thing the woman remembered before falling with higher and higher speed was Alek shouting her name.

Nataliya got paralyzed from fear. She let out a silent scream. She knew that nothing lasted forever, but thought that she had more time to live.

" At least I haven't bleeded to dead as they predicted." She smiled bitterly.

" Who said that?" Asked someone above her.

Nataliya got so surprised, that she nearly had a heart attack.

" Alek?" She asked. " Is that really you? But how?"

" Boris was only the second best agent." He smiled proudly. " I was, am and will be always the first one."

Nataliya's fear evaporated so much, that she could find the power to roll her eyes.

" We don't have too much time before using the parachute." Alek shouted. " I must catch you! Try to move your body a way that..."

" Alek, I know how to do it." Nataliya interrupted and tried to get parallel to the ground.

A minute later she could feel Alek embracing her from the behind.

" It's all right." He whispered to her ears. The woman could feel his breath on her neck and his strong muscles holding her. Calmness filled her nerves. She knew she would be ok, no matter what. _Because he was there with her._

For the first time, she dared looking down. The trees and houses were nearly invisible dots in front of her eyes.

 _" Breathtaking!"_ She wanted to say, but suddenly a gunshot was to be heard.

" Alek!" She yelled desperately, checking if the man got injured.

" I'm ok, there's no need to worry so much!" Alek growled.

" Sorry for caring for your medical condition!" Nataliya replied, but the man acted like he hadn't heard it.

" We have to release the parachute soon." He said. " Get ready!"

A split second later, Nataliya felt a force pulling them up for a moment. The speed of their falling decreased step by step. She looked up as she could to see a dark orange object.

 _" It worked!"_ She shouted gleefully.

" Of course it did." Said Alek, giving a little kiss to her neck.

However, their happiness didn't take for long.

A bing bang came, then two, then four, merging into a deadly melody.

Holes came visible on the parachute as the bullets went through it.

" Don't worry! Boris had never been a marksman." Alek shouted to Nataliya. " The holes are not big enough to make us fall. " Then, he felt terrible pain. _He was shot._

 _" Maybe I was wrong about the second one."_ The man thought, gritting his teeth, pushing his lips together to avoid screaming. He knew that the woman was scared enough and making her worry about him would just make the matters worse. To calm her down, he started whispering into her ears.

Although the sound of the shots was extremely loud, Nataliya could still hear his voice.

" Close your eyes!" He murmured softly - and she obeyed.

 _After seemingly hours, her legs finally touched the ground._

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 _Location: Boston, USA_

Although the airport was spacious, the crowd made Ian feel claustrophobic. The lack of fresh air suffocated him, but the worst of all was the crawling at the top of his back, which came everytime when his inner Cahill radars signalled danger. Precisely, when he was observed.

He peeked around. The first time, he saw nothing suspicious. However, for the second time, his gaze stopped on a red haired girl, coming out of the terminal. When their eyes met, Ian felt something strange in his stomach.

 _" I know her."_ He thought, trying to figure out her name, but the memory was covered with an imaginary, dark blanket.

Suddenly, he heard Irina's voice. " Ian, come!"

She and Nikolai had already left him behind and the woman must have noticed his absence.

" Yes, um...sorry!" He replied as fast as he could, catching up with them.

Irina lead them to two adults in black suits.

" They are Lindsey and Mark." She introduced them. " They will accompany you home."

" What?" Nikolai asked in an indignant way. " We were a part of this project!" He shouted. " You promised!"

Irina took a step closer to him. " You are a Cahill." She said. " And I am tremendously disappointed that you were still unable to learn the main rule of the game."

Nikolai's eyes widened. " What?"

" Trust no one!" Irina said over her shoulder as she left them.

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After the boys came conscious after their shock, the two agents began to escort them to their plane.

" Faster!" Mark said roughly. " We can't miss it!"

" How to miss a private plane?" Nikolai asked with annoyance.

The two agents paid no attention to them. They led them through narrow corridors and empty halls.

" The VIP entrance?" Nikolai guessed, but everything seemed too suspicious.

Then, the phone of Mark started to ring. He wove to Lindsey to slow down and answered it immediately.

 _"The make of that phone,"_ Niko told himself. _" I had never seen it before."_

As the thought emerged into his brain, his eyes met Ian's. The Kabra's glance messaged the same word as his.

 _Trap._

* * *

 **So did you like it?**

 **If the answer is yes, than review please! :D**

 **Here are some questions for the ones with some more time:**

 **1\. Where did Nata and Alek arrive? ( That was sorta random question lol)**

 **2\. Who do you think the girl Ian saw is? (+ any predictions about the future *.* )**

 **3\. Who sent Mark and Lindsey?**


	38. Because the Troubling Never Stops

**Hey!**

 **To start with: Thanks for the reviews!  
Although there's only a little of Alek in this Chapter, I promise that the next one will contain more of him! :)**

 **To be honest, I only wanted to publish this Ch after the traffic counter bug - or how to call it - is fixed, but with the school coming, I was afraid that I wouldn't have time for uploading.  
So, because I'll have loads to do, I won't be able to write and put the new chapters on so frequently either - but don't worry, I'm endeavouring! :)**

* * *

Chapter 38

Ian and Nikolai ran as fast as they could towards the depature lounge trying to leave the two agents behind, but Mark and Lindsey could chase them with an amazing agility.

" Stop brats!" Mark yelled angrily, but the boys didn't reply.

" This way! I think I've seen those offices on the way here. Maybe the exit isn't as far as we thought." Ian gestured to the left." Or at least I hope so. Getting caught by those doesn't sound well."

This was one of the rare moments when the two boys agreed.

They had been running for a while when Nikolai risked a peek backwards and realised that Lindsey disappeared.

From metre to metre they got more and more exhausted while Mark wasn't even sweating, so noone could ever imagine how happy the boys were, when they finally noticed the white door leading back to the hall.

Then, as a dark shadow, a woman dressed in stewardess clothes stood into their way.

Lindsey.

 _" They certainly know the structure of the building."_ Nikolai thought angrily. _" She might have cut the distance down."_

" Missed me?" She smiled in an evil way.

" No!" Ian shouted, turning back. But Mark was already standing behind him.

Now, the two boys were stuck, standing back-to-back.

 _" They are stronger,"_ Nikolai muttered to himself. _" but maybe..."_ He peered around. Nowhere to go, nothing to fight with.

The help came from somewhere they never counted on.

" What are you doing here?" Came the voice of a security guard - the original, big and grumpy edition. Lindsey and Mark stood surprised.

The guard examined them from their toes to the top of their head suspiciously.

" You should be on a plane." He told the woman. " And you..."

"Time to go!" Nikolai murmured to Ian, but the boy needed no prompting. Not caring for what the guard or the two agents would do, they swooshed between the still motionlessly standing Lindsey and the wall, fading into the crowd.

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" Huh, that was close!" Nikolai said as they stopped for a minute, trying to catch their breath and - what's more important – seeking for Irina. " We must find her." The boy said. " If she gets to the plane, there would be no chance for us to warn her."

" If she wasn't the one who sent those goons after us." Ian muttered, but shut up when he saw Nikolai's expression. He looked so troubled that Ian could make sure that the same thoughts were racing through his brain. Still, he had a question to ask. Something that evoked the same dizziness in his head as the familiar stranger he'd seen before.

" Have you seen that guard anyway? There was an M on his jacket. I bet I've seen it somewhere else before." He asked.

" Who cares?" Nikolai growled. " That must be a brand."

 _" No."_ Ian thought. _" More than that for sure."_ He turned his head left and right. No sign of Irina. No sign of that mysterious girl.

He began to think if he had just imagined everything before, but then his gaze stopped on something red. _" She's that!"_ He gasped, racing towards her.

" Ian, where are you going?" Nikolai asked from the behind, but the other guy paid no attention to him.

" Wait!" Ian shouted, but she didn't notice him.

But someone else did. A younger, olive skinned girl with perfect black hair.

When Ian's eyes met hers, the air filled with electricity. Electricity and lost memories.

The realisation came so fast to him that he nearly couldn't comprehense it. It was like getting wide awake after a long dream. A realistic one.

Isabel... time travel... What the hell?

 _"Natalie."_ He wanted to shout her name to her, but only a weak whisper came out his mouth.

His sister wanted to say something too, but she got pulled away by a tall, elegant woman.

Isabel.

She was heading to a gate.

Right before he could go after them, Nikolai grabbed his arm.

" What again, Kabra?" He asked furiously. " You're sabotaging my mission."

" Enough, Spasky, I'm fed up with you!" Ian yelled, but Nikolai interrupted.

" Look, there!" He said, pointing at a blond haired woman in a blue dress.

" We must reach her!" Nikolai said desperately, but he knew deep inside, that they had no chance.

" Mum stop!" He shouted after her with all his strength, but she couldn't hear them.

Without looking back, she disappeared on the way to Gate 3.

 _The same one Natalie, Isabel and Sinead had entered before._

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" Move!"

" There's no way I would go a micrometre from here without bandaging your shoulder!"

" Woman, don't make me mad, that's just a little scratch." Alek Spasky growled to Nataliya. " They are after us and they will get us in no time if we don't carry on."

Alek was sure that Nataliya knew that and didn't wish to meet Boris again, but from the moment she noticed that he was wounded, she sat down into the grass and refused to go any further.

" Nata!?"

" Nyet."

" Nata!"

" Your wound first." The woman said stubbornly.

" Nata, they'll catch us!" Alek said losing his patience. " There's no need to make fuss of unimportant things! You must understand that they'll kill us the time they..."

" Do you think I don't know that?" Nataliya interrupted indignantly. " YOU must understand that you're terribly shot and if we don't do anything, you will bleed to death in an hour. I guess, I had enough problems with Hemophilia to know."

Alek let out a little gasp. " It doesn't matter." He said slowly. " You have to be safe. And here, you aren't."

Nataliya wanted to say something, but then, she saw smoke comming behind the trees. The smoke of chimneys.

Alek noticed that too and made up his mind.

" That must be a village." He muttered, then looked at the woman, deep into her eyes. " It can't be far from here. About a 5 minutes walk. We should get there and then you can do whatever you want with my shoulders. Deal?"

Nataliya took a deep breath before responding. " Deal."

* * *

 **That's it, thanks for reading!**


	39. When Nataliya Decides to Operate

**Here's Chapter 39, one full of Alek and Nata as promised. ;)**

* * *

Chapter 39

" Aaarrgghhhh! What the hell are you doing back there?"

 _" I have to take that bullet out."_

" You've been doing that for hours. Bring me a mirror and let _me_ do it!"

Arriving to the village, Nataliya and Alek faced a great hospitality, the inhabitants tried to get everything the two of them needed. However, with no doctor near, all they could provide was a little room in a hostel, painkillers and a knife.

So this is why Alek was layig on a bed on his back with Nataliya sitting next to him, operating his shoulder.

The woman narrowed her eyes as she was trying to get the little piece of metal out of the man's flesh wound, but the more time passed, the more desperate she became.

She had known Alek for a long, but had never heard him groan before.

But that time, he couldn't help it. Nata didn't want to imagine, what a terrible pain he was in.

And to make matters worse, her failed trials to get the bullet and avoid any infection made the wound deeper and caused him more misery. His blood loss was also getting to a fatal level.

He was breathing fast, making his bare, muscled chest move up and down rapidly.

His head came red, red from the fever. Nataliya put one of the cold, wet towels they got from the owner of the house onto his forehead to alleviate it, shimmering his golden hair with her other hand.

" I will make it!" She muttered, but it wasn't sure if it was to calm down Alek or herself.

.

And then...

.

" Yes!" She shouted from joy and relief, holding the deadly iron object in her hands. The bullet.

Alek peeked at her while she bandaged his wounded part. He tried to smile, but his expression turned into a grin.

" Nice job!" He groaned. " Now, let's move on. The assassins..."

" No assassins!" Nataliya looked at him furiously. " A minute ago you were dying and your standings now cannot be called stabil either. You cannot even sit up. You have high fever, so you must relax."

Alek looked at her confidently. " I am not a baby! We are going!" He tried to sit up, but he fell back, ending up powerlessly on the bed.

Nataliya looked him with that 'I told you!' expression, but then regretted it. That time the man was weak and he hated to show it to her. That drove him angry, making him try the action again and again – getting his conditions worse and worse.

" You're stubborn as a mule, aren't you?" The woman murmured, leaning closer to him. When their lips met, she could feel the heat of fever comming from his body.

Then, his hands – shaking from pain – gathered around her hip, pulling her closer, but suddenly as a new thought came into his brain, he broke the kiss, meeting the puzzled glance of Nataliya.

 _" Why?"_ The woman wanted to ask with disappointment, but she kept quiet.

" You're suffering." She finally said, heading to the door. " Have some sleep."

" Nata?" Alek said one last time. Nataliya turned to him.

" About the quarrel on the helicopter..." Alek started, trying to choose the best words. " Isabel... and I..."

" Nevermind." She shook her head, but couldn't hide her emotions and the little tears running down her cheeks. " If you choose her, I accept it. You stood next to me and if it wasn't for you, I would be already 10 metres under the ground, dead. So all I can be is grateful."

" Huh?" Alek looked at her with amazement. Then, he closed his eyes as a little pain-wave passed through him, but got back to control fast. " You misunderstood me. There's nothing between us."

Nataliya's eyes widened. " But... then..."

" Nata, you're the one I want." Alek said slowly. " Because... because..."

He'd never thought that it would be so hard to say it out loud, but there was no way back. The woman was standing still, waiting for him eagerly to finish the sentence.

Alek had known her for decades – the shy, but friendly girl, then woman, who made him feel better all the time, who tought him how to... how to...

The fever started to take his vision, but he couldn't go unconscious before telling her _that._

And all of a sudden, the words slipped out of his mouth like they had been waiting for release for neverending centuries.

Words, forming a sentence that sounded like:

 _" I love you!"_

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 _" Did he really say assassins?"_

In little villages, where the residents know each other, people tend to observe the newcommers more precisely than expected. And when a catchy gossip begins to spread, it pulls an unstoppable avalanche after itself.

Especially, when another stranger with terrible accent appears out of the blue, looking for the said-to-be fugitives with a shotgun.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Write a review, if you have time, please!**

 **The next update will be...um... IDK when, maybe in 1 or 2 weeks time (I've got other stories to work on), unless the teachers stop showering me with homework...**

 **See you then! :)**


	40. To There

**Hi everyone, I'm back!  
Sorry for not updating, but as I said, I had loads to do... :)**

* * *

Chapter 40

 _Location: Boston, USA_

For Ian Kabra, there was only one thing worse than being left alone in one of the biggest cities of the world: being there accompanied by Mr. Wemustgoaftermummysomehow Spasky.

" Listen." Ian said. " You must tell me how you contacted the Madrigals when you saved Amy. If I can tell them about..."

" You wanna go rogue?" Nikolai asked with disgust. " We just have to wait for the Lucian backup." With these words, he dialed a number on his phone.

" Wait!" Ian ran after him, trying to take the gadget away, but didn't succeed. " What if they sent..."

" Yes, we are here in the US. We need backup. It's emergency!" Nikolai started to talk on the phone, paying no attention to him.

Then, Ian gathered all his strenght together and finally pushed the boy with such power, that the phone fell from his hands to the floor and broke.

" You idiot! Leave me alone!" Nikolai yelled with furry. " You've done enough mistakes today."

" You're just accusing me with _your and your mother's_ faults!" Ian replied with disbelief. He recognised a part of his old self in Niko, the one he used to be when he was working alongside with Isabel. _The spoilt son of the queen bee._

" Don't you dare!" Nikolai looked at him, ready to strike. " And who the hell teams up with the Madrigals? I don't need them. _I can finish this whole mission myself!_ "

" I am afraid you are wrong." A calm voice came from the behind. It belonged to a man in black. Fiske Cahill. Amy stood on his left.

" No." Nikolai said. " You're wrong. Your whole branch is to manipulate the others." Then, he looked at Amy as if he adressed the last sentence to her.

" No, you've misunderstood us!" The girl said. " We only want peace."

" By telling lies and misleading everyone? I don't think so..." Nikolai said. " Come on, do I look so stupid to believe something like that time-travel bogus? No sorry, I'm not taken in."

" She told you the truth." Fiske said. " Open up your eyes and try to see."

As they were walking out of the airport to open area, a metallic sound came louder and louder.

Nikolai smiled, looking up to the sky, where a helicopter was circling above their heads. "You know, I would happily waste my time listening to you, but I have better things to do." He said, cathing the end of the rope thrown to him from the vechile. " For example, getting the gem."

Amy ran to him to prevent him from going, but he pushed her hands away.

" Stop!" She shouted, but couldn't grab his hands. " I wasn't lying to you! All I said was true. Remember the carvings on the wall in Peru? It was real! Isabel Kabra travelled back in time, but she lost the stone somewhere on the Cahill Island. And someone wants to rule all the branches is about to obtain it. We must stop him! Niko, please!"

However, the boy didn't care. All Amy could do was watching the helicopter fade away with him to the blue sky.

Amy looked down to the ground. He was gone.

" Will I ever see him again?" She wanted to ask herself, but the question came out of her mouth so everyone around could hear it.

" Yes, for sure." Fiske frowned. " Especially after giving away the gem's location."

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" Mum?"

" Hmph?"

" I saw Ian at the airport. He was there with..."

" Get to the point!"

" He must be in danger! We should have warned him!"

" Your brother is clever enough to take care of himself. The real trouble is on the Cahill Island. Oh and his goons can find the gem any time and from the moment it's done we are lost. I hadn't made the sacrifice and bought the last minute tickets for this terrible public plane instead of going to the Madrigals and ask for a private one!"

" But they live in Boston... We could have..."

" There was no time for that and that's the end of the conversation."

 _Silence._

" Mum?"

" If you say another word about seeing Ian..."

" But mum..."

 _Silence for about 10 minutes._

.

.

.

" Mum?"

" What now?"

" Mum, do you think it was right to spend all the money from Alek's debit card?" Natalie asked, looking at the new Chanel dress she was wearing.

After they'd arrived to the greatest shopping centre of Argentina and Alek'd sent them his card for the plane tickets, Isabel felt a too big temptation to visit some of her favourite shops. And of course, if she went in for once, she couldn't come out with empty hands. She just loved shopping.

Loved it so much that she bought some clothes for Sinead too and forced her to wear them. It wasn't that she didn't look pretty in them, but Sinead still felt that the short dress she was wearing wasn't really her style – not to mention the highheels which nearly caused her break her ankles. So, to sum up, it wasn't a wonder that she was sitting on her chair voicelessly with the _"Kill me now!"_ expression on her face, peering at the white clouds through the window of the plane, clicking a pen monotonously.

" Natalie, darling, remember what I told you? There's no excuse for looking bad." Isabel sipped the coffee they received as a first class service. " And after saving the life of his sister, he can feel greatful enough to do us this really insignificant favour."

.

Although noone knew how Alek would feel about the whole debit card thing when he realised it, there was one thing for sure: his 'lovely' sister started to get fed up with the clicking sound the girl three seats behind her made with that pen...

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **P.s.: Remember when I told you about _that_ confrontation... well... *smiles***


	41. Dream

**Jay, finally I had time to write during a weekday... lol epic moment! :D**

 **This chapter can be called a little episode.**

 **I hope you like it! ;)**

* * *

Chapter 41

 _Nikolai was standing in a dark room full of toys, with drawings on the wall. In the corner, there was a small bed and a child in it. The bedside table was jammed with different tablettes, medicines and a huge bottle of syrup. Next to the bed, a blond haired woman was sitting on a chair, shimmering the hair of the boy._

 _" Mummy, why are you leaving me again?" A little kid cried, tears rolling down his cheeks, red from the fever. " Mummy don't go!" He croaked desperately, coughing._

 _" I have no choice, honey," The woman sitting next to him murmured, looking at him with sad blue eyes._

 _" You have! There's always another way!"_

 _The woman closed her eyes. As Nikolai walked closer to her, he saw that she was shivering._

 _" Mummy won't be away for long!" The woman said after she found the power to speak. " But you know what?" She asked, trying to look more encouraging. " I will bring you anything you want from there!"_

 _The face of the child lit up. " Anything?"_

 _" Anything, I swear!" The woman kissed his head._

 _" Well..." The boy said, leaning closer. " There's something..."_

 _Then, he whispered his wish into her ears, carefully as if he was afraid that someone else could hear it._

 _His mother nodded briefly._

 _" Mission accepted!" She said, smiling._

 _When the eyes of the little boy closed and he fell asleep, letting the sweat dream paint his face into a calm expression, his mother gave him one last kiss, then walked out of the room._

 _._

 _Then, the whole image changed and Nikolai was standing behind a huge stone building. As he looked up, he saw a crest on one of the colourful windows. It was a church._

 _As he turned around, he saw graves all around him. As he carried on examining the area, he noticed a woman, dressed in black standing next to a newer-looking gravestone._

 _She looked a bit eerie: she was colder than an iceberg and Nikolai suspected that she hadn't slept for a while. There were also strange claw-like needles coming from the ends of her nails, However, Niko wasn't afraid. His mother would have warned him to stay away from such sinister people, but he felt somehow like that the woman was the reason for him being there._

 _Slowly, he started walking towards her._

 _" Um, excuse me!" He accosted her._

 _" Da?" The blond haired woman asked reluctantly, still not getting her eyes off the grave._

 _" I... um... I need some help... I... I don't really know..."_

 _" If you need to find something, you should check the map there." She replied coldly as if it was a sin to bother her with a single question like that._

 _" Ehh... The problem is that I don't know where to..." Nikolai muttered._

 _The woman put the fluffy object she was holding in her hands onto the stone. As Nikolai looked closer, he recognised it. A little plush monkey._

 _Then, without any sign, the woman appeared next to him._

 _" Interesting," She said. " You were always better than me when it came to finding the right path."_

 _That time, that she finally turned to him, Nikolai could see her face. Her skin was pale, her mouth was a thin line on her head, her blue eyes were cried out, but when she looked at him, the old happiness filled them, something that was thought to have been lost for a long time. Her hair was short and she had no make-up or perfect manicure on, but Nikolai still recognized her for the first time._

 _"M..." The woman put her index finger onto his lips before he could pronounce the word._

 _" You've grown a lot since I saw you the last time." She said, examining him from his toes to his head._

 _" But... That's impossible!" Nikolai looked at her. " You... you..."_

 _" Darling, you are a Cahill. You should have known that there's nothing really that can be rightfully called impossible." The woman smiled bitterly, staring at the grave again. This time, Nikolai's gaze followed hers._

 _There was a name carved into the stone. Nikolai coldn't believe what he had just seen._

 _" Is that...?"_

 _" The truth?" The woman asked. "It depends on what you call reality and imagination. Sometimes they are easy to separate, but sometimes..." Then, she looked deep into his eyes. " Do you believe it?"_

 _" Yeah, I guess, you're right." Nikoli answered, making the woman laugh._

 _" Oh honey, no, you don't!" She said, pulling him closer, startng to walk with him._

 _" Why?"_

 _" If you did, you weren't sleeping on a helicopter alone, heading to the Cahill Island." The woman shimmered his hair. " Oh, I wish I could be there for you, but I can't help. Not now."_

 _" But you were always there!" Nikolai resisted. The woman shook her head slowly. " I betrayed you. I did that to everyone."_

 _" You couldn't have done anything else. You needed to go!"_

 _Without an answer, she shook her head. " You and your friends will soon realise it... So soon..."_

 _After a minute of silence, the world started to spin around Niko. He tried to wink it away, but didn't succeed._

 _" Time for you to go!" The woman said sadly. " It was good to see you again!"_

 _Then, a force pulled him away from her, out, to the middle of nothing, to the dark open space._

 _" Wait!" The guy shouted. He had so many questions to ask..._

 _" Wait!"_

.

" WAIT!"

"Sir, Sir, are you all right?" The helicopter pilot cried out, looking anxiously at him.

" Wha...Where am I?...Huh, that...was that just a dream?" Nikolai asked.

" Sir, calm down, that was just a nightmare!" The pilot said.

 _" Just a dream..."_ Nikolai muttered to himself. _" But it seemed so realistic..."_

" Sir, we will soon reach the coordinates of the island you gave to me." The man next to him said.

" Huh? Ok." Nikolai shook his head, trying to get his senses back, but as he lifted his legs a bit, a fluffy thing fell to the floor.

A little plush monkey.

 _" What the?"_ He asked himself, then a female voice came into his head.

 _" She was right."_ Nikolai thought. _" And I won't let her down."_

Then, he turned to the pilot. " Sorry, but I am afraid, our aim has changed." Then, he gave the man a little computer. " You see the red point? Follow it, please!"

Nikolai smiled to himself. He knew it was a great idea to put a bug on Amy's dress, when she let down her guard.

" Now I understand." The boy looked at the blue sky, the same colour as the eyes of that woman. _"Thank you, mum!"_ He whispered into the air.

* * *

 **That's it!**

 **Question of the week: Who was Nikolai talking to? lol**


	42. Caught to the Second

**Hi! Chapter 42 is here!**

* * *

Chapter 42

 _Beep...beep...beep..._

" What the?"

 _Beep...beep...beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppp!_

" Alek!"

" What?"

 _Beeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppppp!_

" Alek, the alarm clock!"

" I know, I'm going!"

" Going where?"

" To run. I feel better now." Alek said.

" I do NOT think so." Nataliya protested as she sat down onto his bed, lieing down to hug the man.

" Nata, get off me, I need to keep fit and anyway, you swore yesterday that you would let me go if I stayed in bed for a whole day. And I did!" Alek said, gently pushing the woman off him with the experssion of a child who didn't get the present his parents had promised for Christmas.

" Yesterday you nearly died. You cannot just jump out of bed, not even if you feel better. All you need now is a full recovery." Nataliya said, giving a little kiss to his forehead. " And why are you so sure that you weren't just hallucinating about that promise? You had really high fever and you were not totally conscious, so that can happen sometimes."

" Nata!" Growled Alek.

" You said that you loved me, so you can do this for me anyway." Nataliya smiled finally, blushing.

" I said what?" Alek asked with a cocky look on his face.

" Alek, you cannot deny it!" Nataliya said with disbelief.

" I can't remember... I guess, as you pointed out, I might have not been fully conscious and in those conditions, people tend to say things they do not mean..." Alek told her mockingly.

" You... you little...!" Nataliya laughed hitting him softly with a pillow.

Suddenly, the door of their room opened. It was the owner of the hostel.

" Ms. Adams," The man called Nataliya on her fake name, made up to hide their true identity. " I would be really grateful, if you could come with me to breakfast."

" Sorry Sir, but I would rather eat up here. I don't want to leave..."

" Oh, that would take just a little time and the whole staff is down there, waiting eager to get to know your story." The man interrupted.

" Well... I..." Nataliya had no clue, what to say. She wanted to stay up there with Alek, but she knew that it would be really rude from her to reject the invitation after the help they had previously received.

" Hey, just go!" Alek smiled, saving the situation. " But leave me some biscuits!"

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Nataliya felt strange. The man said that the others would wait for her downstairs, but they were going up instead. Then, they got to the entrance of the attic.

" Sir?" She finally asked. She couldn't help feeling suspicious because of the strange behaviour of host owner. " We..."

" I am terribly sorry," The man cried out on a scary tone. " but I had no other choice!"

And when the door opened, Nataliya realised why.

" Hello my Beauty! I'm glad you finally decided to join me!" Boris smiled from the inside, sitting by a laid table with thousands of delicious dishes on it.

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Sinead Starling was proud of her ingenuiousity. Being unable to run was the best excuse anyone could have come up with to get rid of those terrible clothes and escape Isabel saying something like _" You have no taste for fashion."._

So, that's how Sinead got to the toilet and swapped the flittered dress and heels to her casual jeans and T- shirt – and of course, the most comfortable trainers on Earth.

Then, she left the little cabin, the smiling. That was when she recognised the woman putting some kind of grey liquid into the glass of the man sitting next to her, trying to get her attention by telling her about microwaves, and a dog named Buffy.

Then, he sipped the water - already mixed with the toxine – and tilted his head. A minute later, a little snore came from his direction.

The woman was smiling, satisfied.

Irina Spasky... only metres away – and mostly: just four seats before Isabel.

Sinead was gritting her teeth. It was a wonder that the woman hadn't noticed them or Isabel hadn't seen her. If those two met, that could lead to nothing, but trouble... _big, big trouble_.

All the poor girl could do, was keeping the two women away from each other.

Sinead sat down to her seat, trying to look as relaxed as she could. Isabel looked back to her from her place, frowning at her new appearance. Natalie was a bit more understanding, but she couldn't help keeping her disgusted glance either.

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After seeing Irina, the flight turned stressful for Sinead, but still, to her luck, time passed faster – so fast that she was a bit surprised when she heard the pilot announce that they'd arrived. Sinead kept looking back, trying to observe Irina from the corner of her eyes, but the woman disappeared from her vision. Fortunately, they had no luggage, so they didn't have to wait for it and could automatically go out of the crowded airport into the daylight.

London was waiting for them.

" Home!" Natalie whispered into the air cheerfully.

From the last pennies left from Alek's money, they took a taxi to the city centre. Then, Isabel led them through the line of neverending streets and after an hour of nonstop walking, she stopped in front of an old building with Victorian athmosphere.

Before Sinead could have done anything, Isabel pulled a brick out of the wall.

" Isa..." The two girls next to her wanted to say something, but then the little panel planted behind the place of the removed material came visible. Isabel pressed four buttons on it and the door of the castle-like house opened instantly.

" It's a top secret stronghold, used only by the Lucian elite." The woman explained as they sneaked through the entrance. " Before we go to the island, we'd better take some weapons."

Then, the small group started their journey towards the room with the board _" Armory"._

" Come fast, we have just a little time!" Isabel hissed as the door got closed behid them.

 _" We will need this... and this... and definitely this... oh, and I shouldn't forget this... and..."_

Soon, the three of them got lost in the mass of poison darts, explosives, daggers and guns so much, that they hadn't heard the door cracking open.

" I haven't seen you for a while, Isabel!" Sounded a familiar voice with terrible Russian accent, full of hatred behind them.

* * *

 **Oh yes... THAT confrontation...**  
 **I guess, you should prepare some popcorn for the next chap, cause I'm planning to put as many action into it as I can! ;)**

 **Anyway, I was just wondering if you noticed someone familiar... um... I won't give hints, but if you did, let me know!  
**

 **Also...  
What do you think is going to happen? *****asks with puppy eyes***


	43. Motha Cobra vs Spaz

**Ch43, as promised:**

* * *

Chapter 43

Isabel and Irina were circling like two wolves, ready to strike. As their eyes connected, it was like little lightning strikes were emering from them, filling the air with unstoppable, dangerous tension. The shocked Sinead and Natalie didn't bother them, the only thing they paid attention to was the other one's moves.

Natalie had never seen her mother look this way. She was wild and the girl knew that the two women could jump to the throat of each other any time. Her gaze met Sinead's. They both knew that they had to stop them, before anyone gets killed, but had no idea how.

It was Natalie who tried to talk to Isabel the first time. " Mum, we must go. The guards will arrive soon!"

However, all she received was a furious glance. " Leave us alone!" Isabel shouted. " I'll come after I finished a job I should have done before." She hissed, not getting her eyes off Irina.

" But..." Sinead tried.

" Out now, idiots!" The woman growled and the two girls obeyed.

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" Finally," Irina smiled. " I have some time to make you pay for what you'd done!" She said, releasing the needles on her fingers.

" Oh yes, you have!" Isabel laughed. " Count every minute of it, because that's all that left from your worthless life!" And with these words, she took the little toxic dagger bounded to her tigh.

 _Poison vs. poison._

That was how it all had to end. And the women knew the unwritten rules.

 _It was all about speed... and timing._

The circling suddenly stoped and they stood still, contemplating their options.

Isabel was the first one to take action.

She performed a round kick to Irina's belly, making her lose balance. Irina let out a little groan, but grabbed the corner of the desk next to her and hit back with her arm, using her fingers and needles as fatal claws. Isabel dodged it and scratched her enemy with her long, colourful nails, leaving thin red lines on Irina's face.

The woman gasped, trying to get a bit further from Isabel to take the control back, but the Cobra left her no time. With the dagger in her right hand, she jumped up, throwing herself onto her victim.

With a battle cry, Irina rose her hands to grab Isabel's one with the weapon, trying to take it, but couldn't succeed. Then, a strange metalic voice was to be heard as the blade cut the needles on Irina's nails into halves.

However, before Isabel could have peered triumphantly at the other woman, she felt the impact force of a hard fist on her chin.

" Argh!" She shouted from the terrible pain, dropping the dagger, falling to the floor.

Then, Irina kicked her with her leg strongly.

" The years haven't changed you!" She smiled, turning her back on Isabel. " You have a big mouth, but when it comes to fight, you can be knocked out easier than a baby. I still cannot believe that you could have ever imagined yourself being the Lucian leader!" Irina laughed.

" You are as dark as the night!" Isabel hissed. " I did use that stone and instead of killing all of you the way I did initially, I let you live. If it wasn't for me, you would be nothing more than a handful of ash, lying 3 feel under the ground next to your idiot husband."

She sat up and without any warning, began to pull the long blond hair of Irina, tearing it, pushing her to the ground. As an answer, Irina slapped her as hard as she could, struggling for release. Finally, Isabel gave up, crawling backwards, but the woman followed her, chasing her to the cold wall.

" Enough!" Isabel groaned, trying to stop the bleeding of her nose. She didn't want to imagine how her face would look like the next day.

" No, it isn't!" Irina growled. " I considered you a friend and trusted you, you little backstabber and as a gratitude, you nearly got my family killed!" Then, she crouched next to the Kabra to look directly into her eyes. " I was the really best agent and if I hadn't helped you, you would have become nothing among the Lucians, but a secretary ordered around by everyone!"

" You are lying!" Isabel hissed. Then, she saw something from the corner of her eye. A gun.

 _" What a nice thing it is, fighting in a weapon store room..."_ She smiled to herself. And when Irina let down her guard for a split second, she reached for it, then pointed the barrel at the other woman.

" The best, huh?" Isabel asked with irony. " Only your ego is before everyone's!"

Irina tried to kick the piece of metal out of her hands and succeed, but she ended up with Isabel sitting on her on the ground, boxing her continuosly, then gathering her hands around her neck.

" Just like at university," Isabel carried on, hissing every word with hatred. " The nice and beautiful foreigner girl with so much talent for everything. Promising, isn't it?"

Irina wanted to answer, but all she could do was fighting for oxygen.

" Vikram was impressed by your skills..." Isabel growled, making her pretty features into a cruel snake's. " ...and by nearly everything concerning you..."

" Even Vikram!" She shouted again, eyes full of envy, tightening her grip on Irina's neck with amazing speed. " And finally, after getting rid of you, I was crazy enough to bring you back to life... and little baby Nikolai of course. Well, at least that rare, slow killing venom I used on him initially was left for better occasions... You know, all is not lost that is delayed..."

" Nyet!" Irina yelled with furry, pushing Isabel off her.

Then, she surged forward. But not to Isabel.

She was about to get the gun lying metres behind the Cobra. Isabel found her purpose out and started to move to the same direction.

However, she was late.

Irina was already holding it in her hands, pointing it to Isabel's temple.

" It was the last time you pronounced his name, witch!" She shouted. " It's over!"

But before Irina could have pulled the trigger, small black points appeared in her vision. She started breathing heavily. Although she was sure what had happened, she still couldn't believe it: Isabel had poisoned her.

.

When the unconscious body of the woman fell next to her, Isabel Kabra gathered all her strength together to stand up, but an invisible force pulled her down, back to the floor.

 _" What?"_ She wanted to ask, but an overwhelming tiredness filled her body. Widening her eyes bewilderedly, she noticed five little red circles on her right arm – the place Irina's needles pierced her skin.

* * *

 **So, opinion?**

 **.**

 **Anyway, I may be back with ch 44 this weekend (or the next one, it depends...).**

 **Thanks for reading, bye!**


	44. Cakes And A Little Interrogation

**Hi People!**

 **Eh, I had to delete this chap previously - I had to rewrite it, because the original version got a bit...um...evil... _(and because I had no Fuegpiedra to travel back in time lol)_.**

 **So yeah, this is the final version, I hope you like it!**

* * *

Chapter 44

" You know, if you weren't a traitor, we could have become _close_ friends... Really _close_ ones..." Boris said as he looked deep into the eyes of the woman sitting opposite him.

" I don't think so." Nataliya answered, taking a little piece of cake from the table. " Assassins like you aren't really my cup of tea."

" Assassins like me?" Boris asked with a wide smile. " Then Alek? If someone can be called a cold-hearted killing machine, then it's..."

" He'd changed!" Nataliya interrupted.

" Oh, no. Once you can leave it out, but you will never be another person." Boris shook his head. " And who knows, if old guy Alek gets a good job offer, maybe he will return and start it again."

" Nyet!" Nataliya protested. She couldn't imagine Alek that way. He just wasn't that type of man. And if he was... _" Well then I would go insane for sure."_ She thought.

" Oh, I'd heard that thousand times before from other women. You know, when we had worked together, Alek had stolen a bunch of hearts... And most of the women... well... they disappeared or were found floating on the surface of a river... and those ones could be considered really lucky. " Boris stopped, saving her generously from the worst parts, then straightened his back and continued. " You trust him a way too much."

" And? Why do you care for that?" The woman said in a quavering tone. She had to get the conversation to another point. She couldn't take hearing from Alek that way anymore.

Boris stood up and approached her, then took the little wisp of Nataliya's hair falling over her eyes into his hands, caressing the black locks.

" Because I don't want to kill you." He whispered slowly. " All I need is infromation. About the Madrigal activities, of course." Nataliya's eyes widened. She swore that she would give her new branch away no time, not even when her life was in danger.

" Ok, let's start. So, who sent you on the mission?"

" I..." She started to find out an excuse, but no good idea came into her head.

" Don't make me wait, Nata!" Boris warned. " I am not a patient person." He smiled. " And what's more, Alek isn't a bulletproof one, either."

" Leave him out of it!" Nataliya shouted desperately. " He has nothing to do with the plan!"

" Oh yes, he does. From the moment he got you out of the hands of the Lucians, he really does." Boris looked into her eyes, deeply. " The only difference between you two is that you have some knowledge that can be useful for us and Alek doesn't."

" And of course, what gentlemen would torture an unarmed woman? Especially when there's a man we can put bigger preassure on her with?" Boris gestured to the mobile near his left hand. " A call and Alek's finished."

Nataliya felt chills wandering down her spine. " Please!" She begged. " You've shot him. He is in very bad conditions and..."

" Who sent you?" Boris asked, not caring for the woman.

" I can't..." Nataliya shivered.

Boris started reaching for the phone.

" Wait, wait!" The woman shouted. Yes, she could fight and die for the better good, but she couldn't let her love do that for her. _Alek had to stay alive- the price didn't matter._ " Fiske! It was Fiske Cahill!"

As the words left her mouth, Nataliya leaned onto the table, bursting out crying. She couldn't speak, hear or do anything anymore.

Boris shook his head and talked on the phone.

" Nyet!" Nataliya shouted, hardly breathing. " Nyet!"

Then, the door opened and two strong guard appeared, escorting Nataliya back.

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 _" Alek,"_ Nataliya thought on the way back to her room. _" Alek..."_

A new, unkonwn pain was torturing her, coming from the left side of her chest.

She looked up to the tall men, walking on each side of her. Then, she saw the entrance of the hostel.

" Alek is in trouble because of me." She muttered to herself." But because he's the leaders' brother, Boris cannot hurt him, if I'm not with him."

 _" Maybe, I would fall,"_ Nataliya thought, concentrating on the handle of the exit door. _" but I would never pull Alek with myself."_

.

Suddenly, she produced a little knife – stolen from the breakfast table - from her pocket, pushing it into one of the henchmen's leg.

With a loud yell, he fell to the floor, hit his head and got unconscious.

His partner turned to Nata with amazement, getting a fast kick to his chest, joining the first guard on the ground.

Then, the woman started to run.

She was about to catch the handle, when someone pulled her back and pushed her to the wall.

Nataliya took a peek. It was Boris.

The woman wanted to escape, but she couldn't move. The man was about the same strong as Alek.

" I'm sorry that you made up your mind that way." Boris murmured with a mixture of disappointment, sadness and anger on his face.

Then, he took her knife, getting it closer and closer to her neck.

 _10 cm away._

 _5 cm away._

 _" Come on!"_ Nataliya told herself. _" You can't be finished this way!"_

 _4 cm away._

With all the courage left in her, Nataliya leaned closer to the man and pushed her head against his. However, Boris didn't bat an eye.

Nata had no chance. She closed her eyes, letting a relaxed feeling spread in her body.

 _" Please, don't kill Alek! That's all I ask for! I beg you!"_ She pronounced her last wish, but to her surprise, the only answer was a moan... and swearing in Russian.

.

" You... you last...!" Alek Spasky shouted, pulling Boris away from her, pushing him to the ground, smothering him. " I will... I will...!"

" Alek!" Nataliya had never seen him this way. And the fact that he was about to kill someone right before her eyes sent the memory of what Boris'd said about his assassin self back to her.

" Alek, stop! Please!" She yelled desperately in tears.

This was the moment that made the blond haired man conscious again – with the help of the growing pain in his shoulder.

" Nata... What? I... just..." He looked at her face flooded with teardrops. " Nata? I'm so sorry, I was an idiot letting you go with that...!" He started to say, but the woman ran up to him, hugging him with incredible force, pushing her lips against his.

" I thought... I thought you were dead!" She sniffed with relief.

" Nata..." Alek sighed with desire, beginning to kiss her passionately, but then they heard voices coming from the direction of the stairs.

" Boris's goons..." Alek thought and grabbed Nataliya's wrist, trailing her out to the garden. " We must get away before they reach us!"

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The bus to London was filled with farmers in green wellingtons and overalls, coming from the hard work on the fields next to the village. The only people that didn't suit to the athomsphere were a dark haired woman in a muddy, white coat, laying her head on the muscular chest of the man sitting next to her, caressing her with his hands.

* * *

 **That's it, I'm dying for your comments!**

 **Anyway, I _might_ bring you _another_ Chap this weekend (I'm in my 'writer mood')... :)**


	45. That Me Or Her Kind Of Stuff

**Aaaaaannnnndddd: Ch 45**

* * *

Chapter 45

 _Location: London, UK_

The trip took about a day, but finally, Alek and Nataliya arrived to London, minutes before the sunrise. They had slept on the bus – in turn to avoid any enemy attack – so when they reached the shiny city, they were quite fresh, ready for action.

They were walking hand in hand on the yet-deserted streets on the bank of the Thames, watching the dark water reflecting the dancing lights of the buildings.

"Alek," Nataliya said, caressing the hair the wind blew on her face out of her eyes. " it's so beautiful!"

" Da, it is." The man smiled at her, giving her a little kiss. " You know, I've been here couple of times, but I cannot get enough of the sight."

Nataliya smiled back. She hadn't known this side of him. That time, he wasn't just the strong, undefeatable hero she used to know. That time, he looked more... human. Human, with emotions. The more time she spent with him, the less she believed what Boris had told her abot him. But still, the bad feeling was there, deep inside of her.

And Alek knew her well enough to discover it.

" Nata, is something wrong?" He asked slowly, pulling the woman closer to him.

" Oh, I just..." Nataliya had no idea what to say, she just kept her gaze on the water.

" Boris had told you something, hadn't he?" Alek questioned, examining all the litte muscles of her pretty face. " Nata..."

" Doesn't matter." The woman said. " He must have been lying."

Alek shimmered her face. He looked happy to be with her, but there was a sign of something unfamiliar in his eyes. Sadness and regret.

" Nata, you must know that," He said, choosing every word carefully as if he was afraid that the phrases would turn into swords, hurting the woman. " I had... I used to be really... eh."

" Arrogant? Cold hearted? Cruel?" Nataliya gave him a little kiss. " I do know it. But now, I am sure that you are another person. –Well, maybe your arrogance left unharmed, but still..."

" I just want you to understand, that I'm everything, but a good person. And yes, I have no idea which details had Boris shared with you, but I've got a feeling that more than the half of it was true. I used people, I betrayed people and yes, I killed many of them." Alek said gravely. " And the only pleasant thing that happened to me is the one I don't deserve." At the _"only pleasant"_ part, he looked deep into Nataliya's eyes.

" Alek, are you talking about...?" The woman asked, eyes widening. " You ARE a great person, don't deny it after everything you did to save me and the world. And no, I won't leave you! I love you and I will always be there for you!" Then, she wanted to kiss him, but the man turned his head away.

" I'm afraid you have no other choice." He said with a dark expression. " I can't let you participate in this madness. Not after I saw Boris holding that knife to your throat."

" But Alek!" Nataliya gasped.

" No buts!" Alek said with pain in his voice. " I cannot let you get hurt, I would never forgive myself. Please go home!"

The woman was out of words. " How can you? How?"

" I'm sorry Nata." Alek said, kissing her one last time. " I'll see you after..."

" You just cannot leave me here!" Nataliya shouted after the man, who had already got far from her. " Alek!"

But he didn't turn back. He knew what he had to do. He knew how he had to do it.

But first, he had to take a little visit to someone he had not seen for a long time.

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" Met a furious cat?" Alek asked as he entered the room, looking at the ruby scars on his sister's pale skin.

" You will never learn that I have a really bad sense of humour, right?" Irina growled to him, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

" The doctors said that you were extremely lucky. If those two children, Sinead and Natalie hadn't called for help in time..."

" I've heard that thousand of times." Irina interrupted. " You should rather talk about something new... For example, how is that... witch that made you betray your family with her magical charm?"

" Hmph, new synonym for best friend?" Alek laughed.

" Really funny." Irina said. " I was just wondering why the hell are you here with me instead of her and the Madrigals?"

" Because you are my sister and I love you... and she's well anyway, heading back to Moscow." That time, Alek closed his eyes, winking away a teardrop.

 _" Real men don't cry!"_ He scolded himself.

" Oh, my heartbroken brother..." Irina said, giggling. Then, she stood up from her bed and walked to him. Although she was really angry about him, he was still her little brother.

She put her hands over his shoulders, comforting him. " What's next?" She whispered slowly into his ears. " Whoes side are you on?"

" Of course, I'll help you get the stone." Alek growled. " I had a chat with a ship owner. He said that he would take us to the island this afternoon."

" You hadn't answered my question." Irina said. " Maybe now it is not necessary, but later you will have to choose from the two of us. Me... or Nata."

Alek stayed quiet.

" Nevermind." Irina finally declared. " But what to do with the hostages?"

" Isabel and the girls?" Alek asked. " Well, we must take them with us. Isabel is the only one who knows the way. But of course, at first we have to heal her from the trauma of seeing her swallen face that looks like a potato at the moment - a really red one... possibly before the departure." Alek smiled. " You know, you've got a perfect sense to choose the right poison."

Both of them giggled.

" And the other branches?" Irina asked after surviving the deafening laughter.

" We'll see, sister," Alek hugged her, giving a kiss to her forehead. " we'll see."

* * *

 **Oh, yes, I was nice wasn't I?**

 **Irina survived with only a few scars...**

 **Opinion?**


	46. Then Came the Dweeb

**Hi!**

 **Here's Chapter 46, R &R, please! :)**

* * *

Chapter 46

 _The man was observing his targets._

 _" Soon, we'll meet, my dears... Really soon..."_

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 _A day before..._

" Control tower to room service. The Ninja Lord is hungry. Repeat: the Ninja Lord is hungry."

" I still cannot believe that you agreed to bring him with us!" Amy Cahill frowned to their Uncle Fiske.

" He sneaked onto the plane." Fiske said innocently. " I just couldn't send him back."

Amy gasped. She didn't want her brother to be a part of the fight for the gem, but it seems that he managed to form a so called alliance with Fiske.

" Sneaked, huh?" Ian Kabra rose an eyebrow from the behind.

 _" If Grace was here!"_ Amy thought, sitting next to the window of their room, wishing for the company of her grandmother. Grace Cahill was the one who knew what was the most appropriate to do in every situation and the only one who could prevent Dan from eating up the ice cream storage of whole Britain- or at least the hotel they were staying at for a night.

Then, they heard knocking on the door.

" These guys are fast." Dan remarked before an employee stepped in with two plates full of sweets. He gave one to the boy, but when he asked for the second one, the waiter stopped with a strict expression on his face.

" This one is for Miss Amy Cahill." He said, putting it in front of Amy. Then he left.

Dan took an angry gaze at her, muttering something like "thief".

Amy examined the plate. Even the layout of the sweets on it was identical to Dan's one, except for the little piece of paper, hidden carefully between a portion of chocolate and strawberry icecream.

The girl took it, examining the scrap carefully. It was yellowish and had been folded multiple times.

She opened it to meet a couple of blood red letters that formed words, then sentences.

.

 _Tomorrow 8:00 am, Trafalgar square. Come alone._

 _N.S._

 _P.s.: Try the caramel. It's the best of all._

.

Her eyes widened as she saw the mongram. Oh, yes, she knew who was that, the thing that troubled her was rather the reason for the message.

 _" Trap."_ Amy thought. She'd once fallen into a similar one, years ago in Australia. One that nearly made her the lunch of a hungry white shark. _" Come alone and everything will be super!"_ She felt like laughing. _" Only an idiot would fall for nearly the same thing the second time."_

Then, she let out a little sigh. _" Well... Seems I am one."_

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Making her way to the famous lion statues of the square, Amy still had no idea why she wanted to meet Nikolai.

Her mind was having the same argument as always before.

A part of her said that he was a dangerous Lucian, threatening her life, but her other side was repeating that he'd saved her from drowning.

She checked her watch.

7:55, 5 minutes to go.

She looked at the dark sculptures next to her. They were so majestic. Maybe a masterpiece of the Janus art.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand landing on her shoulder.

She turned to its owner, but to her surprise it wasn't Nikolai.

Alisatir Oh was smiling at her warmly, leaning on his diamond-headed walking stick.

" Amy, how small the world is!" He greeted her.

" Uncle!" Amy said and to his surprise, she hugged the old man.

He died from a wound infection years ago and she'd been sure that she wouldn't meet him again... until that day.

 _" Seems the gem is working well."_ Amy thought, but this time, she was happy about it.

" And, my dear, what brought you to London?" Alistair asked.

" It's...um..." Amy had no idea how to answer. It wasn't that she didn't trust the man, but after getting nearly killed by Irina, who initially sacrificed her life for Amy in a fire, well... things got mixed up. Finally, Alistair saved her from the need of reply.

" After the stone?" He asked, murmuring into her ear. " Don't worry, I know what happened. It was Grace who sent me to look after you."

Amy felt some kind of relief in her heart. But she didn't want to put Alistair's life on the line. " Thank you, but I am afraid, I will go alone." She said slowly.

" You don't have to do it yourself." The man insisted. " And if you leave, I won't be able to avoid informing your grandmother. But if you let me come, it won't be necessary, because then I could keep an eye on you and save you from danger if needed."

Amy was just staring at the ground.

" Amy," Alistair tried again. " You'll need an adult in this case. And how are you planning to get to the Cahill Island without help?"

The girl looked into his eyes. All he said was logical and true. Typical Ekat.

" She's coming with me," Someone stepped behind them. " and you're going home without saying a word."

 _Nikolai._

The boy was wearing a blue T-shirt with dark jeans. He looked awesme – and also angry.

" I told you to come alone!" He frowned.

" What do you want?" Amy asked, not caring for his last comment.

" Oh, yes, let's get to the point. It might happen, that I... I quite believe what you said and... " The way Niko was muttering, combined with what he told her made Amy giggle.

Then, she heared that he stopped, peering at her face.

" I'm soo sorry," Amy apologized, ashamed of herself. " I was just really happy to hear that you finally..."

" I have a helicopter, that is designed to land on such surfaces as the ones we discovered on the Cahill Island." The boy continued. " I give you the lift, you help me to find the gem. It's the deal."

Amy nodded – not as if she had any other choice.

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As they were walking down on the field to the helipad, the dark vechile filled Amy's vision.

She had nothing with her, but her small bag with some food and a gas spray in it – hell knew when it would be needed – carried politely by Niko on her left.

On the right was Alistair, who persuaded them to come – mainly because they wanted to leave the Cahill branches out of the action to do everything peacefully.

The pilot was waiting for them next to the helicopter, but he wasn't alone.

He was seemingly driven mad by a boy who produced something from his pocket, throwing it to the man, who started to dance in a strange way afterwards. The third person, standing with straight spine was just shaking his head, then waving to them.

When the reached the place of the crazy scene, Amy's eyes widened.

Ian Kabra was there with Dan, who was using his latest invention: the "Ant Bomb", which consisted of a weak paper bag and a huge mass of angry ants in it.

" Hey!" Nikolai shouted, hardly keeping back his laughter. Amy had no clue how much he and Dan talked when she was lying unconscious in the Cahill mansion, but it was evident that the two of them got on really well.

" Dan? Ian?" She asked. " What are you doing here? You should be with Fiske!"

" The great Ninja Lord can't be fooled." Dan grinned. " I was following you the whole way here, with this Cobra in my back." He shot a poisonus glance at Ian that time." So we got there, but the pilot didn't let us in, so I had to take matters into my own hands."

" Argh..." Amy groaned. " And Fiske? You can't say that..."

" He's sleeping." Dan said proudly, sitting into the copter. " I left a message that we went to the zoo. And if you want him to keep being convinced about that, you won't send me away."

" Dan, you are threatening me?!" Amy gasped with disbelief.

" Well, it worked for old Uncle Alistair, so..." Dan smiled. " I'm learning fast."

.

It was the pilot, finally getting rid of the ants, who ended the conversation.

" Sir," He turned to Nikolai. " it's time to go."

* * *

 **The end of this part, I hope you like it!**


	47. Silence Before The Storm

**Hey, here's Chapter 47!**

* * *

Chapter 47

The terrace was filled with green shurbs and flowers. The sweet odour of the blooms was taken by little wafts that made the hotness of the day bearable.

The house was high on a mountain, surrounded by nature - mediterranean plants everywhere.

The man visited Tuscany as many times as he could. After the attack in New York, he was brought there for rehabilitation and immediately fell in love with the view. He had to spend so much time there that he nearly got to know each grain of sand around his mansion.

The wound made by the bullet was really hard to heal and if he hadn't been prepared for the assassins to come, he would have died for sure.

But he had - just like initially, years before.

It would have been a lie, if he had said that the decision wasn't hard. He left his son behind to his power hungry brother, but still, it was the best plan he'd ever made and who cares about the past when there's a glamourous future coming up.

The man looked through the window of his fort to take pleasure in the view. The sky was in a hue of red, but still quiet. There was no wind at all.

" The silence before the storm." Gordon Oh muttered to himself.

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 _Blub, blub..._

Alek was observing the small waves of water crashing to the white side of the yacht.

Isabel and Irina were arguing about something nonsense and he had never been so grateful for his decision to stay away from them. The air turned explosive when those two were stuck near each other.

However, his mind wandered to other, stranger tides. Guiltiness wasn't a usual feeling for him, but that time, he couldn't get the face of that woman out of his mind.

Nata...

She looked sad, disappointed and mostly: betrayed. And Alek knew that she totally had the right to feel so...

And then came what Irina said: he had to choose between the two of them.

 _" My sister is so selfish, so stuborn,_ " Alek sighed. _"and most of the time, she gets what she wants."_

Still, he couldn't leave Nataliya. He loved her more than anything _– even more than himself._

His thoughts were interrupted by the strange noise coming from the inside of the yacht, under his feet. The owner told him not to go down there, but of course, he wasn't the one who left anyone order him around.

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Alek walked down the stairs carefully. He arrived to a room with wooden walls and floor. There were tuns - conceivably full of rum - and furniture. He looked around. There was a brown door on the left. The closer he got to it, the louder the sound became.

 _" Someone is there."_ The man murmured to himself. _" Someone who should not be."_

He was about to catch the handle, when a deep male voice came from the behind.

" Mr. Spasky," The captain greeted him. " is there a problem?"

Alek peered at him for a second, contemplating something.

" Seems you have _rats_ on your ship, Sir," He said coldly. " big ones."

The eyes of the captain grew. Then, he smiled. " The _cat_ died a week ago. After that, those _rodents_ started to spread and now, I need help to _eliminate_ them."

" Oh, yes, I suppose," Alek examined his face. " I should help you."

" Don't worry, I can do it myself." The captain walked towards him as he was trying to get close enough to whisper a plan into his ears... _or to attack him._

.

While they were having a chat, the noise died out. The one inside must have sensed the danger.

" You know," The ship owner took another step towards Alek. " I feel a bit nostalgic about that cat," Then, new sounds came, but that time, not from the door. Alek rather got the feeling that he was surrounded. " it had white fur and blue eyes. But do you know the thing that really got me?" The man smiled. " Those sharp claws that she could release or pull back."

Alek rose an eyebrow. Something wasn't OK for sure.

" She jumped when the enemies weren't looking, then got them under their skin." The captain continued. " I always imagined them being poisonous..."

" That cat... it ended up being shot on her head..." Then, his smile turned into a grin. " So similar to your beloved sister, isn't she?"

.

Right after he pronunced the last words, strong men jumped from behind the huge items, surrounding Alek.

 _" Irina?!"_ Alek glanced around angrily. " What have you done to her?"

" Just what that bloody Lucian snake deserved!" One of the men shouted. When Alek looked at his uniform, he could see a symbol, a dragon in yellow background, on it.

 _" Ekats..."_ He growled. There were about 6 of them. _" And Lucians are said to be the ones cheating..."_

Then, he jumped into action. He swung his hands to catch a hold of one of his iron rods, but instead of spinning it around his finger, he threw it directly to the face of the captain.

" It's for my sister!" He yelled with furry, then grabbed an other piece of metal and sent the next man to the floor with it. " And it..."

Suddenly, the force of a hand being pushed to his stomach stopped him. He wanted to kick back, but then he felt another terrible hit – that time between his ribs.

The four man left pushed him down to the ground. Alek tried to stand up, but they were holding him firmly.

" No!" He shouted. Pictures of his dead sister ran into his mind. He'd lost her once and after the gem brought her back, he swore that he would protect her.

He tried to shake the men off him one last time, but only one of them fell back.

.

Desperation filled his body, evoking the old animal instincts that had been hiding deep inside him. He kicked, hit like an indestructible fighting machine and fnally, he got rid of two more men, struggling with the last one.

" I will kill..." Alek wanted to shout, but as he turned left to dodge a fist, the captain, who got conscious again got into his vision. He was holding a gun.

Alek let out a groan _._

 _He had to win. He had to defeat all of them. It was no laughing matter._

Alek pushed the body of the man away from him, right to the captain, but with a step right, the ship owner avoided it.

" I am afraid, you are wrong, Mr. Spasky," He said calmly. " because you will be the one who dies today." He leaned closer to aim the gun...

 _Then closer..._

 _Then he fell, face down._

.

There was a poison dart coming from his neck. Behind him, a blond haired woman appeared, accompanied by three others.

" Irina!" Alek shouted. His voice was full of relief. " Is that really you? Are you truly alive?"

" And you're the one asking?" The woman laughed. " I was about to convince that idiot" She looked at Isabel. " up there when we heard shouting. Honestly, you're a trouble- magnet!"

Alek ran to her and – to her surprise – hugged her. Irina was about eleven the last time her brother embraced her.

" Everything will be allright!" Alek said. " Now, that we are here, together, we are unstopable!"

Irina smiled and the six of them started walking up the stairs to the fresh air – after making sure the Ekats wouldn't get to them again.

The cabin boy was maneuvering the yacht to the Cahill Island and they were about to grab the Fuegpiedra.

 _" Don't worry, Nata,"_ Alek smiled to himself. _" I will be home soon. There, with you again!"_

.

However, there was something that got missed out.

 _The cabin boy, of course._

 _The control room of the ship was empty._

 _So where was he?_

.

 _He was waiting for them not far from the staircase, pulling the trigger of his pistol right when they appeared, sending the deadly bullet to the direction of Alek's chest – right where his heart was throbbing._

* * *

 **I know... I know... It was an evil cliffy, a really cruel one.**

 **I guess, I'd better look for a safehouse and hide there for a while (and I haven't even released Chapter 48 yet)...**


	48. Unpredictably

**Hi!**

 **Sorry for not updating on Sunday. (I was planing to, but I had too much homework and stuff to learn... *frowns*)**

 **Anyway, I guess this chap was one of the hardest to write, I hope you will like it!**

* * *

Chapter 48

 _Bang!_

 _" Alek!"_

He heard someone shouting his name, but didn't know who it was. Every voice faded to one: the sound of desperation and shock.

Then a male scream came. Irina or Isabel might have kicked the attacker to the ground.

Alek tried to peek at his sister, but he couldn't see well enough. His vision was red.

 _" Alek!"_

At least he felt no pain. Nothing at all.

 _" Is death really like that?"_ He asked himself.

 _" Alek!"_

The man closed his eyes and opened them again.

It wasn't his imagination. It was reality.

" Impossible!" He muttered looking at the woman in front of him.

" Alek," Came the whisper again. " I thought you know me, I could never stay with my hands down." Nataliya smiled back. " Not when you are in danger."

" But you..." Alek could hardly breath.

" I followed you all the way here." The woman caressed his golden hair. " I'd been hiding behind that door down there. You know, after hearing you approach, it came clear that I don't want to be your enemy." She wanted to giggle, but then her already china-white face turned paler.

She lost her balance and fell, right to his chest. Alek tilted a bit backwards too, but in the end, he could catch her.

He sat down to the floor, holding the weak body of the woman in his strong arms.

" Honey, are you OK?" He asked worriedly, looking at her, then rising one of his hands.

There was blood on his fingers.

But not his.

The realisation devastated him, ripping his soul apart. The woman was the only reason he was still alive. Nataliya was the one who stood between him and the bullet, blocking its way with her own body, sacrificing herself...for him.

" Nata?!" His throat went dry. The red liquid was flowing on the back of the woman from a centre in the middle, where the bullet entered her body.

" I'm... so... sorry" Nataliya stuttered. " I... I saw him fire at you but... it was already to late to stop him..."

" Nata... How...could...you...?" Alek felt the sobbing take over him. For the first time of his life, he couldn't hide it. " How?"

" I couldn't let you die." The woman said, looking deep into his eyes. " I... "

Then, her body shivered in pain. The man pulled her closer, pressing his back to a wall.

The head of the woman was lying on his crossed legs.

" We'll turn back." The thought came into Alek's mind, but he wasn't the one saying it out loud.

" Let me see..."

" Huh?" He just asked dizzily, looking around him to meet the gaze of his sister.

" Don't play deaf!" Irina frowned at him. " We must examine that wound and alleviate the bleeding, but I cannot do anything if you are pulling her to yourself in the way a frightened toddler hugs his teddy bear!"

" Irina!" Nataliya's eyes widened. " I thought that you..."

" That I was mad at my said-to-be best friend who betrayed me and gave my branch away while I believed her everything and stood on her side?" The blonde growled, turning the other woman to her belly, letting the deadly scar visible. " Well, yes, for the first time in your life, you were 100% right. But there's one thing that can make me even angrier than that: if you kick the bucket."

.

Alek had never concentrated on her face so much before. Irina had been peering at Nataliya's back for seemingly hours, pressing her lips together.

He knew that expression really well. And that was what made him more and more anxious.

" Sinead, Natalie, look for the first-aid kit, that must be here somewhere!" She finally ordered. " Isabel, check our hostages!" The Cobra was about to protest, but the icy glance was more than enough to discourage her.

" Alek, go and turn the boat back!" Irina finished.

The man was about to obey reluctantly, but Nataliya shook her head.

" Wait!" She shouted with all her power, grabbing his hand. " You can't!"

Irina rose an eyebrow. " Do you really want to die?" She asked. " You have no other choice than..."

" I'm sure the enemy is waiting for us in the harbour." Nataliya interrupted. " If we go back, they will kill all of us. And on the other hand, another group of Ekats are already searching for the gem on the island. We must go there, there's no other way."

" But..." Alek's mouth kept open.

Irina nodded slowly and the man hated her for it. He knew the truth too, but still he didn't want to believe it. There was no way he would lose hope so soon.

Nataliya seemingly read in his thoughts and smiled at him sourly. " Darling, you must accept that..."

" Screw it Nata, I won't! And why would I? You will be taken to hospital and get better soon!" He interrupted stubbornly.

" Alek, I'm too old..." The woman groaned. " I'm too weak... and what's more, I have Hem..."

" Sweetheart," Alek stopped for a moment to calm down, giving her a little kiss. " just keep strong until we get to the island. There is the Madrigal stronghold you told me about, remember? They will help us there, don't give it up!"

.

Even though only minutes had passed, Alek felt like sitting there embracing the woman for ages.

Irina bandaged her as much as she could and she went away to let them be alone, together.

After a little time, Nataliya broke the silence.

" A...Alek?" She groaned.

" Hmph?" The man asked, giving kisses to her forehead.

" Remember Siberia?" She asked with glimmering eyes.

" How could I forget that?" Alek smiled, caressing her.

" You know, you were holding me the same way there." Nataliya murmured weakly. " It was so cold there... but still... I wish I could go back... and do everything again – without any changes."

Alek peeked at her beautiful face. White as the snow. _The snow_ that once connected the life of the two of them. _The snow_ that was as cold as her body became, step-by-step.

" We will go back there once, I swear." He said, trying to smile at her. " I will take you there... and we will... we will..." Alek tried to say something, but found no words.

"Thank you!" The woman whispered with her last power. " I love you!"

Alek was about to respond, but Nataliya was already dreaming of the neverending steppes.

* * *

 ** _End of this Chappy...  
_**

 **Actually, I was thinking about making a fic about that time in Siberia and I might upload it in the weekend, but it's not sure, cause I'll have school on Saturday *frowns*.**

 **I know that it was a cruel chapter, but Katja, please leave me alive! (Eventually, the fact that Jude Watson also survived after publishing In Too Deep sorta calms me down, but still... )**

 **And I was also a generous writer... a really really generous one. The original version for this chap ended somehow this way:**

 _ **"Alek was about to respond, but the tears bursting to the surface from the inside of him prevented him from doing that.**_  
 _ **He wanted to murmur a last goodbye, give a last kiss, but instead, he could only bore into the two grey eyes. The ones that didn't see him or the world anymore."**_

 **but I changed it, so although she is in really bad conditions, there's a little chance that she will survive.  
Actually, it depends on Alek's decision - a really hard one- that he'll have to make in the future. - And yup, you can consider the last sentence as a little spoiler/hint. ;)**


	49. Gemhunters' League

**Finally I managed to update and I'm full of ideas - you can't imagine how much I'd been waiting for writing the upcoming chapters!**

 **However, IDK when I will put on the next part, because I've got less and less time to write as the end of our holiday is getting closer and closer, but I'll do what I can. :)**

* * *

Chapter 49

As Ian Kabra stepped out of the helicopter, his legs sank a couple of inches into the muddy ground. The air was a bit humid because of the rain the previous night, but the puddles had already disappeared, thanks to the strong sunshine. The Cahill Island was wonderful with its green grass-covered fields and the high rocks of the mountain in the middle, looking down to the still waving sea.

Both him and Amy had mixed emotions about the area, the final location of the clue hunt, where they got closer to death than ever.

 _" Well, seems there are things that never change,"_ Amy thought, staring up to the peak. _" but at least we had no problems with the landing like last time."_

" Guys, have you got any idea where to start?" She heard Nikolai. "I mean, this island is huge and we have only a little time to find the gem before any of our enemies arrive. I'm sure they are on their way to us."

While he was speaking, he turned his head to Ian as if he was adressing the question to him.

" I'm not my mother." The British boy protested. "I don't know where to search."

Dan, who had been silently walking behind them let out a sigh. The whole task was like looking for a pen that had disappeared from a pencilcase or staying awake on Miss Mary's lesson at school – impossible.

" Well, maybe if we tried thinking with Isabel's head..." Being only able to see her back, Dan could sense the wheels in the brain of her sister working hard to find the solution. " What would you do if you were hunted by a couple of people and you had to find a good place to hide an egg-shaped object in only seconds? And it must be a place you can remember if you return for it..."

" I guess, because of the lack of time she had, we can cross out the mountain." Nikolai nodded. " Then it must be somewhere down here."

Suddenly, Ian and Dan grabbed their hands from the behind, pushing their heads down, right behind to a shurb.

" Why did you..." Amy attempted to ask, but Dan pressed his hand on her mouth.

" Sshhh!" Ian whispered, pointing to the left side of the isle.

There were about ten man standing, seeking for something in the underbush.

" Other Cahills." Dan murmured. " We aren't the first ones here."

" At least, noone noticed us." Nikolai gritted his teeth. "We're here, the copter pilot had flown to another island near us. It's ok."

Amy agreed, but a strange feeling sent butterflies into her stomach. She'd forgotten something... Or rather someone.

" Uncle Alistair!" She could hardly prevent herself from shouting. " Where's he?"

" I remember him leaving the helicopter with us, but then..." Dan scratched the back of his head.

Driven by their sixth sense, all of the children looked to the direction of the strangers again. Between the people stood an old man – possibly Asian – with a walking stick.

Nikolai swore. He didn't want to hurt Amy, but he was utterly angry at her. It was only her mistake that they had to bring the Korean man with them.

He inhaled, then exhaled slowly.

" We can't sit here hands down, waiting for them to find us." He pointed out. "Let's go and search silently here."

 _So they began to work... for seconds...for minutes...for seemingly hours..._

" Nothing!" They repeated monotonously with the desperation growing in them. They sometimes checked where their enemies were and the fact that they weren't successful either was the only thing that kept a little hope in them.

Amy peeked around. She was surrounded by the gravestones of the Cahill elders, where Mac – alias Mr. McIntyre – had announced that they had won the hunt.

" Poor Mac." She thought of the family lawyer, who was killed by a mysterious someone the time the Cahills were fighting the Vespers.

Lost in torturing memories, she walked towards Dan. Or, to be precise, wanted to, because as she took a step forward, she fell over a stone, right to her face.

With a groan, she sat up, examining the object that caused her injury. She took it into her hands, rolling it between her fingers. Suddenly, she felt nausea and got dizzy. Pictures emerged into her vision.

 _._

 _She saw a smiling woman. She'd met her portrait thousands of times. Her hair was auburn, her eyes were green. Just like her mother. But it wasn't her. It was someone who lived yearhundreds before. Madeline Cahill._

 _"Oh, Amy, I'm so proud of you!" Her voice was calming and it was like all the letters she pronounced poured renewed energy and braveness into Amy._

 _Four other people, two women and two men appeared behind Amy's anchestor._

 _The girl wanted to respond, to tell Madeline something nice, but her numbness returned._

 _She still saw Madeline's face, but as if there was a new layer in her vision, Dan, Nikolai and Ian's face appeared too, shaking her, shouting to her. Their voices got mixed up, turning into an ununderstandable noise._

 _Before waking up to reality, Amy remembered Madeline telling her to be careful, but couldn't get the last part of the sentence._

.

" Amy, Amy!" The boys shouted. " You've found it!"

" I..." Amy shook her head to get fully conscious. " I did it... And believe me, it works perfectly... ugh..."

" Congratulations!" Said a fifth person. " Now, that you're finished, be a good girl and give that gem to me!"

The blood in their venes froze. And they had a truly weighty reason for that.

"Mummy dearest!" Nikolai groaned.

* * *

 **And that's all for now, I hope you liked it! (Sorry for so many cliffies though, I can't help it.)**

 **And my all time question: Any predictions?**


	50. Twist

**Dum-Dum-Dum: Chapter 50 is here!**

 **I've never expected to get here and I would like to say a big thanks to every support I got.**

 **However, that means that I'm slowly getting to the end of the story - if everything goes as planned, there are about 5 chaps + an epilogue (yes, I was nice enough to decide to write one) left.**

 **But don't worry , the best part is yet to come! :D**

* * *

Chapter 50

Bumping into Irina, the children started to run fantically. The woman was chasing them, shouting to stop, but the members of the little team didin't even turn their heads back.

" Back to the copter, fast!" Niko shouted. That time, he was pleased to be unable to see the expression on his mother's face. He knew that the fact that he hadn't obeyed her orders to go home was already a huge betrayal to her and the Lucians, not to talk about the fact that he'd brought three Madrigals with him.

He raised his phone to call the pilot, who was told to stay close.

 _Beep!_

 _Beep!_

 _"_ _Argh, answer it already!"_ Nikolai growled.

 _Beep!_

 _Beep!_

" Niko?" Amy got next to him.

 _"_ _He must have fallen asleep…"_ Nikolai muttered. _" Wake up, you bastard!"_

" Niko, look there!" The girl pointed to the light blue sky.

Suddenly, they felt the wind blow stronger. The black dot of the helicopter Amy had been gesturing to grew bigger and bigger.

" Here comes the backup!" The pilot smiled to them, offering his hands to help them to their seats. Then, he hesitated for a minute. " What about that old man?" He searched for his fifth passenger.

" I guess, Uncle Al feels better with his Ekat friends." Dan said.

" Nevermind, just get us out of here!" Nikolai hissed, leaning closer to the window, peering out of it. He was searching for his mum, but as they rose from the ground, he could see nothing, but the emerald green leaves of the trees covering the island.

He was deeply hurt. He knew, protecting the Fuegpiedra was the right thing to do, but still, he felt guilty. He wanted to go back and tell Irina… And there came the question: _Tell what?_

They traveled above the mountain peak that gave the major characteristic of the isle. It was beautiful. Nikolai wished, he could just get out to there and let the chilly breeze caress his face, cooling down his confused mind, washing away all the pain in his heart.

And the copter got closer to the rocks.

 _Then closer._

Niko felt Amy poke him. But it wasn't needed to warn him about the danger.

" Why aren't we heading to London?" He peeked at the pilot, just to see the walkie-talkie in his hands.

" Because that wasn't the order I'd received." The man answered lightheartedly.

" I told you to…"

" You're not my boss." The man interrupted, then landed on the mountaintop. " And if you want to keep your life, you'll get out."

" Hey, we can talk as gentlemen." Ian tried. " How much do you need?"

" Huh, you don't think that you can bribe me, kid?" The pilot produced a gun from his pocket. " OUT!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

At the time she was fighting for the clues, if anyone had asked Amy what the most dangerous or scary thing to come across was, she would have said without thinking something like _"Isabel with a shotgun"._

However, as life brings more and more experience to everyone including her, Amy was pushed to the point where she had to admit that the _"Irina with a shotgun"_ version was even worse.

And she hadn't even added the fact that the woman could shoot killing glares significantly better than the Cobra...

As they were kicked out of the aircraft, falling to their nose, the first things they saw were Irina's black combat boots.

" No." Nikolai groaned. Dan had the feeling that if they had got out of that hell alive – which he strongly doubted – the poor guy would have been grounded for an ethernity. And then face of his mother wasn't a good omen either: instead of looking infuriated, she was calmer than ever – just like the snake that got its prey.

" Did you really think that you could get away with that stone unhurt?" Irina asked, starting to play with the gun in her hand. " Get up and give it to me!"

" Forget about it!" Amy growled, standing close to Dan to protect him with her own body if needed.

" Don't make me ask twice!" The woman narrowed her eyes. She opened her hand, asking for the loot. " I'll let you go, I promise." She added impatiently. " Just give it to me, before I change my mind."

The blood in their venes froze. Everyone there knew, that Amy had nothing to do, but obey. There was nowhere tor un up there, nowhere to hide.

It was over.

Ian watched sadly as she took the gem out of her pocket and handed it to the woman looking at them with triumph.

" You see, it wasn't that hard." Irina smiled, but the happiness disappeared fast from her face as Nikolai jumped between her and the girl and grabbed the stone, running to the edge of the rock.

" What the hell are you doing?" The Irina's heart let out a throb. She turned directly to her son, ignoring the others around.

" Mum, I'm sorry, but this is the only way you'd listen to me! Amy has a point! This gem is dangerous..." The boy said. " And if you don't throw that gun and go home, I'll let it go and it will shatter into pieces."

Irina couldn't find the words. She coldn't even breath for a second.

Then, she got back from the shock, letting indignation and anger fill its place.

" I cannot believe that you let _that_ " Irina gestured towards Amy with disgust. " make a fool of you! After all the training and lessons I gave you!" The woman shook her head. Ian was sure that he saw something glimmering under her eye, but she winked it away. " It was only a waste of time. But you know what? I don't care. Just give me that bloody gem and I'll correct it. Correct you, my idiot son and everything you've ruined. I'll make it, just for you, just because I love you so much!"

Nikolai felt sadness tore him down. For a minute, he was the little boy again who dropped his teddy bear onto the road by mistake and right before his eyes, a car had rushed over it, leaving nothing, but little fluffs behind. That time, he ran to his mother and was sobbing on her shoulders.

And he wished he could do the same there, just to jump into her arms and escape the cruel world.

But he also knew that if he did so, the whole world would get destroyed and people would die.

He took a deep breath. Irina was standing there, waiting for his reply with her hands crossed above her chest.

" Mum, I can't… The stone doesn't belong to us."

Before the woman could have answered, someone else appeared, stepping out of the elevator that the Cahills used to enter the Madrigal fortress at the end of the clue hunt.

" The boy is right, Irina, you should believe him. The gem is… rightfully ours." Said the Korean man, who seemed to be the older version of Alistair, surrounded by his goons. " We, the Ekats will rule the world."

" Oh!" Dan broke the long silence afterwards, attracting all the attention to himself. " Hey, I mean not only the sayin' 'oh', but the name 'Oh' too… It's like 'Oh, an Oh!'…"

" Dweeb!" Amy sighed. " Leave your puns to better times!"

" You won't get it." Nikolai said, not caring for Dan's comment. " There's no reason I would…"

Suddenly, with a wild move, one of the Ekats jumped to Irina's back and pushed her that much that she'd dropped her weapon. Then, he pulled her to himself and pressed the barrel of his pistol to her temple.

" Want a good reason?" The old man laughed. " Here's one: If you don't give me the Fuegpiedra, my friend will be nice enough to send a 4 mm bullet into your beloved mother's head."

* * *

 **Oh, yes, someone is about to die - not joking! (I won't tell you who though, sorry...)**

 **Hey, don't look at the screen this way! There was a villain in James Bond who lived with a bullet in his head too - or at least something like that.**

 **Ok, ok I shut up and write the next chapter...**


	51. On the Island of Madness

**End of writer's block! *fireworks***

 **This chapter is a bit longer than the average, sorry for that.**

 **And sorry for making some of you hate the 3rd law of Newton. Why? Just read! :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 51

" We cannot just sit here, waiting for something to happen!" Isabel Kabra shouted. " That's not why I risked my life to change the past! Irina or someone else will get the gem and ruin everything!"

Alek growled. He was sitting at the back of the ship with Nataliya's head in his lap.

He caressed the sleeping woman slowly. Her skin was nearly ice cold. He had to change the bandage on her more and more frequently. He knew really well that if the bleeding hadn't stopped, that would have been the last day of the woman's life.

Although he'd never shown it, the desperation and fear was growing in him faster than ever.

And it was Isabel's tantrum that he needed the least.

" We can. If you want something, then go and do it yourself!" He hissed, trying hard not to smother her, but to her luck, Isabel disappeared right after hearing him, pulling Sinead and Natalie after herself.

Then, he heard a groan coming from the floor. Nataliya got awake from their loud quarrel.

" Darling," Alek kissed her forehead. " try to sleep, it helps..."

" You don't have to stay here with me," The woman interrupted. She was shivering in pain, but she could still keep the old, warming smile on her face. " you can go after them."

" No, I won't leave you alone." Alek shook his head. _" Never ever again."_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was like being slapped right on the face by an invisible force.

The gaze Nikolai wandered from the old Ekat to his mother with her arms being agressively pulled to her back by the strong man holding her captive.

" I would be really grateful if you decided today." The Ekat's leader said. " And I guess, your mother would feel the same way."

 _" Who's that man?"_ Amy asked herself. _" Dan was right, his features are like an Oh's, but he's a way older than Uncle Alistair... And where's Alistair anyway?"_

While he was talking, Irina tried to break free, but the iron grip of the man was too much for her. Then, her eyes met Nikolai's.

 _" Don't give it to him! Run!"_ She wanted to scream, but the man pushed his hands on her mouth.

However, Nikolai understood the telepathical message correctly – and hated himself for it.

 _" If I refuse to do so, they will…they will…"_ He looked back to her desperately. Then, he started his journey towards the old man.

 _" Don't do it!"_ Irina's eyes glimmered with something. But it wasn't fear. It was confidence and determination. _" Trust me."_

Amy had been observing the scene standing still as if a single movement could cause the goon with the pistol pull the trigger.

" Seems Nikolai and Irina can communicate the same way as I and Dan." She told herself.

She was trying to figure out what the two mentioned were planning, but all she could see was a little – nearly invisible - nod from Niko.

 _" What are they about to do?"_ She wanted to ask herself, but the answer came as fast that it's rage nearly pushed her and the others off their legs.

When Nikolai got halfway between the side of the cliff and the Korean man, Irina jumped up, hitting the chin of her captor with her head. Then, she released her nails, getting them under the skin of her surprised victim.

The blond haired boy, on the other hand, performed a kick to another Ekat agent, sending him to the ground.

Dan and Ian joined in, fighting like demons with all their strength.

Amy saw the old Ekat raise a gun, aiming to her brother, so she jumped against his chest and made him fall.

Then, they started struggling on the dirty grass for the weapon.

" Who are you?" Amy asked. " And why are you doing this? Why do you have to ruin everyone's lives?"

" Our Cahill world needs a change." The Ekat hissed, trying to take the pistol from the ground. Amy had to admit, that he was extremely strong for his age. " A good leader to be precise. Your grandfather knew that too, but he turned out to be too week to accomplish it so I had to come back from the shadows and take matters into my own hands."

With these words he finally stood up and grabbed the weapon, pointing it at Amy. " What a pity you won't be able to see it."

" Noone will, because it'll never happen, father." Came a voice from the behind.

Alistair Oh stood firm and walked between the two of them. " I cannot believe that Uncle Bae was right about you at a point."

" You'd better let yourself left out of this." Gordon Oh said. " There's no need to sacrifice your own life for nonsense."

" Saving the world from the apocalipse is nonsense to you?" Alistair gasped.

" Apocalipse? Oh, no. Just a new era in our history," He smiled. " one, that will come faster than a dream - thanks to that idiot Kabra and her arrogance."

 _"Who's the idiot, you old bastard?!"_

" Wow, that sounded truly like the Cobra…" Dan said, who got next to the three of them while fighting.

" Um, Dan…" Amy turned her head to the direction where the voice came from. " I think it is…"

" Remember when she drank the serum and turned into red Hulk?" Dan laughed. " She couldn't realise that we are talking about her even if she was standing near us. "

Then, long silence came, the boy could only feel fast breathing on his neck.

" She's right behind me isn't she?" Dan groaned, looking up to the direction of the sky. But instead of the heat of the sunshine, shadow fell on his face – the shadow of the infuriated Isabel Kabra.

" Mum, please, don't hurt him!" Natalie cried. She was rushing out of the elevator with Sinead.

However, Isabel was only staring at the Cahill siblings.

Then, her gaze wondered to Gordon, who was still arguing with Alistair.

" You!" She hissed and with her eyes red like a furious bull's, she threw herself on him.

And that was the moment when the real madness began.

People on people, kicking, hitting, fighting against each other, all for one thing: the stone.

Ian was pushed to the ground by a heavy fist, Sinead and Natalie were trying to escape from the second agent.

Nikolai was struggling with three enemies the same time: one on his back, one catching one of his arms and one about to slap him. _Thank God they weren't Tomases!_

Still, their attempts were enough for him to drop the gem, which rolled away.

" Where did it go?" Nikolai turned his head rapidly, but one of the guys managed to hit the middle of his belly.

" Argh!" He groaned. He couldn't concentrate on two things.

" Amy!" He cried, but the girl needed no prompting.

Amy was already searching for the _Fuegpiedra_ and grabbed it from between the grass.

She wanted to hide it into her pocket, when someone grabbed her arm.

" Irina!" She gasped. The fingers of the woman were around her wrist ending with her nails and the deadly needles nearly piercing her skin.

" The game is over, Cahill, the gem is mine! MINE!" Irina shouted, doing her best to take the little object from Amy's hands – with success.

" Irina, please," Amy pleaded, but all she received was cold laughter. " the gem is dangerous! Trust me!"

" You turned my own son against me and you still have the bravery to ask me to believe you?" She hissed coldly. " All I could do now is killing you to take revenge for ruining my family! And you dare to tell me to trust you?"

" Irina," Amy took a deep breath. " once somebody asked me to trust her for a day and tried to prevent me from going somewhere. That time, I didn't listen to her and she died sacrificing her life for me and my brother because of this failure. I still feel terrible remorse. It's…" The girl fell silent. She couldn't speak anymore. She just jumped to hug the woman who got paralized from the shock.

" Just… just touch…" The girl sobbed on her shoulder. " the stone… touch…"

The woman shook her head as if she was in two minds, then as one of her inner parts won - not the one encouraging her to poison Amy - she obeyed.

Irina got dazed as memories started filling her brain.

 _Her 10th birthday when her friends organized a surprise party. Getting lost in St. Petersburg. Her father coming home after a long mission. KGB training. The great years of university. The day she met the man of her dreams. Fun with friends. The first time she held little Nikolai in her arms. The fight for the Lucian leadership with the Kabras. Losing her husband. Nikolai learning to walk. Her dad being sentenced to lifelong prison. Nikolai singing cutely a song at a school event. The more and more quests to take. Nikolai getting seriously ill. Her son's gift for mother's day, saying that he had the best mommy on Earth. That mission. Nikolai begging to her to stay. The funeral of her beloved son. Grief and sorrow. Alistair… The clue hunt. Indonesia…_

Everything was back, the real past became and open book to her and its old friend, the pain accompanied it.

Teardrops got into her eyes. They made her vision obscure, but not so much to turn the barrel of the gun aimed at her and Amy invisible.

They were standing at the edge of the rock. No enough place to dodge the shot.

" Amy," She looked down to the girl crying on her shoulder. " I'm sorry…"

Then, her eyes met the man holding the weapon. He nodded goodbye coldly to her. Then pulled the trigger.

" Amy," Irina whispered to the girl's ears. " Keep safe. Take care of Nikolai… and everyone. I… I love you all!"

She said, half crying, then pushed the body of Amy away from her, getting her out of the way of the bullet.

However, from the counterforce of the movement, she fell backwards, into the dark depths.

* * *

 **Yes, maybe my most cruel chapter ending ever... :( *hides***

 **So, um... opinion/predictions?**

 **I'd really appreciate reviews! :D**


	52. When the Worst Occurs

**And Ch 52 as promised. :)**

* * *

Chapter 52

Amy Cahill was floating between two worlds – the one her senses percepted and the one her brain comprehended.

Life was so far away… just like the people: the man with the gun, her friends fighting: she observed everything in slow motion. It was like a dream.

One that turned into a nightmare when…

Amy pushed her eyelids together.

 _" How could I be so stupid?"_ She asked herself.

She swore thousand times that she would never let anyone die for her, however, looking back to the past, all she could remember was losing her beloved ones.

But it wasn't over. Not when she was holding the Fuegpiedra in her wounded hands.

She had no idea what would happen if the timeline got mixed even more, but she didn't care.

She had to save Irina. Do something she hadn't had the choice to initially.

Amy tightened her grip on the gem. A blink and she would be somewhere else, somewhere better… Or she would face the most terrible death.

 _" Count to three, then do it."_ She mumbled to herself. _" Do it for everyone!"_

Suddenly, a voice brought her back to Earth. The terrible Russian accent she'd never expected to hear anymore.

" Amy, I would be grateful if you could - how you Americans say - give me a hand after you got bored of staring out of your head!" Someone said on an annoyed tone.

" Irina?" Amy's eyes widened. She ran to the edge of the cliff, getting dizzy from the height.

Then she saw her.

The woman was hanging 500 metres above the ground from a thick root that broke through the massive wall of the rock.

" Irina!" Amy shouted again with relief, then lay down to grab her hands.

She was a bit surprised by the woman's weight: she wasn't as heavy as she'd thought before.

However, it was still hard to lift her.

With a silent cry, Amy began to pull the woman up to herself.

 _" I will make it! It's nearly done!"_ She supported herself.

She felt sweat pouring down her neck…

Unfortunately, she could tell the same about her fingers that started getting wetter and wetter.

Irina noticed that too, because she hold on to her stronger.

Then, one of her hands slipped out of Amy's and the body of the woman got smashed to the side of the cliff.

" Irina!" Amy groaned desperately.

" It's all right!" The woman replied, but from the number of her inhalation per second showed the opposite.

And that was before the small, then bigger stones started falling down. The rock was about to break off.

" Amy, it's not safe!" Irina yelled. Dust was falling into her eyes, her hair, her mouth… everywhere. " It doesn't woth it! Let go or we'll both fall!"

" I won't leave you here!" Amy shouted back with teardrops falling from her eyes. " I won't!"

" Amy, please!" The woman opened her fingers.

" No!" The girl shouted.

Although Irina slipped a bit downwards, Amy could catch her wrist.

" Now or never! Go!" Irina begged desperately.

With a loud crack, a huge part of the crag fell, getting more than the half of Amy's torso into the air.

Irina wanted to warn her again, but no voice came out of her mouth. Her body was still hurting from the impact. Her left arm swang dumbly next to it. Locks of long, blond hair got out of her ponytail and was blown into her face by the chilly wind.

That's how she would die, dirtily, falling and crashing to the ground - which conditions wouldn't have bothered her, if there hadn't been Amy who was stubborn – and crazy - enugh to stay on her side.

As Irina looked up to the girl, she noticed the crack on the rock grow.

.

The last thing she remembered before the whole world fell on her head was a strong hand on her wrist.

But not on the one Amy was holding.

The fingers climbed to her hips and raised her. When she opened her eyes, she was lying on her back, on solid surface. She heard Amy sniffle next to her. Somebody had saved them.

" Alek!" Irina muttered. She was blinded by the sun, but she didn't care. She wanted to hug her selfish and hard-headed, but sometimes lovely – she kept the last thought in secret - brother who rescued her. " Alek?"

 _No answer._

" Alek, is that you?" Irina groaned again. Her vision got back slowly, but she immediately regreted it.

The first thing she saw was the wide grin of Gordon Oh, surrounded by his goons. There were about 30 of them.

 _" They must have called one more backup team."_ Irina thought bitterly. Then, she noticed the boy two of them was holding. _Nikolai._

She felt her heart break as she saw her son bleeding from a deep wound – cut conceivably by knife – on his shoulder.

Irina shouted his name, standing up, but one of the men kicked her and she fell back to the ground.

 _" I'm ok."_ Nikolai gaped weekly. He wanted to guard his mother, but he had no power left to escape the Ekats.

The others weren't safe and sound either: Isabel was lying unconscious on the ground and Natalie, Sinead, Dan and Ian were held the same way Irina was when the old man blackmailed her son.

Although Alistair had no scars, he was tied to a tree with a rough rope. His diamond-headed walking stick was thrown away in pieces in front of him.

" You couldn't believe that I would let the gem fall and shatter, could you?" Gordon asked. An agent took the stone from Amy and gave it to him. " Game over, my dears!" The man smiled. " Welcome to the new world!" He said as he rolled the _Fuegpiedr_ a around his index finger three times.

The wind blew more intensively as a portal appeared.

" No!" Amy shouted, but her voice got lost between the ones of her friends'.

The man walked towards the gate, then suddenly turned back to one of his people.

" Don't take prisoners!" He told them.

" And check out that Alek guy," He sent a warm smile to Irina. " I heard, you could get quite a lot of money for the head of a Lucian assassin… And also a promotion."

Finally, he jumped into the portal, to the ethernity.

* * *

 **Ehh, things are getting worse and worse, aren't they? ^.^**

 **So what do you guys think?**


	53. Fight, Fight And Oh Yes: Fight Again

**Hi Everyone!  
To start with, thank you for the reviews, they were amazing to read! :D**  
 **Also, I am sorry for not updating faster, I was trying to make this chappy as enjoyable as I could and that's why I had to rewrite some parts over and over again (*sighs*) because it felt like something was missing.  
** **But now, it's ready, so here it comes, I hope you will like it:**

* * *

Chapter 53

Like a little whirlpool – blue waves circling around the centre, forming a big mouth that waited readily to eat up the whole world. Noone knew what's on the other side of it and maybe it would stay the deadly secret of the fallen and the forgotten centuries of human history. Ones that were about to vanish.

Just like the people. Good and evil, young and old… And none of them could run away.

A wink and all their origins become a memory noone remembers.

The portal was shrinking – and so was the hope in Niko's heart. He was just boring into the blue flash of the gate as if it was a rope that connected him and his life. And that string was about to be torn apart.

The Ekats came into his vision. He had to fight them, but his arm fell as he tried to rise it. _Was that his inner weakness taking over his body or just another sign of his shock?_

He had no clue about the answer, but there was one thing for sure: he had to protect his family.

Splitting pain appeared in his shoulders. The wound was bleeding. He ripped a piece off his T-shirt and wrapped the sensitive surface of skin with it. Then, he looked up to face his enemies.

The Ekats took them to one place and pushed them to the ground. They formed a circle around their victims pointing their guns at them, waiting for the final order.

Nikolai shivered. They were in point-blank range, only an idiot would have failed the shot.

He pushed his fingers together. They were cold like the winter in his home.

 _Home..._ He didn't know if he'd ever have the chance to see it. The less warmth he felt, the more desperation spread in his braincells.

But as he closed his eyes, he sensed the heat pouring back to his venes by a hand holding his.

It was a bit wet, but he didn't care. Although he couldn't remember touching it before, he recognised it immediately.

" Don't worry." Amy whispered into his ears, but the fear in her voice was unmistakable, even if she did her best to hide it.

" My dear friends!" An Ekat – Gordon Oh's second in command – smiled.

" I think I'll have to vomit." Ian reacted to the greeting. Amy was amazed by the self-control the boy had.

" In your position, it is not the wisest attitude. " The man shook his head annoyedly and peeked around. " I was told to finish you all, but I am not a cruel man. What's more, I am not a servant of any self-nominated branchleader." He frowned. " If you give me 39 pieces of information – if you know what I mean - I'll let one of you go."

 _" The clues…"_ Amy gasped. Unwillingly, her gaze flew to her brother. After the days spent with him, it still wasn't certain if he was his old self or the one changed a bit by the time travel. But if it was Dweeby-Dan a metre away from her, then…

 _" Then he has the full formula in his memory."_ She could just hope that she didn't let any letter run out of her mouth. Sometimes when the thoughts came, she was unable to stop.

"So, how do you decide?" The man growled, assuring the girl that he heard nothing.

And the silence was the worst thing in that situation.

Amy felt it coming. Not from the faces of the people next to her, not from the butterflies in her stomach. She just felt it. It arrived every time someone she loved was in danger.

What was that? Furry? Desperation? _No._

It was rather something that couldn't have been poured into words. An emotion that was the same when the first drop of the Master Serum touched her lips to save Dan from Pierce.

" This game isn't over!" Amy muttered to herself. She noticed Nikolai's questioning glance.

" It is not over!" She said again - that time letting everyone hear it - emphasyzing each word with a spectacular judo move. Kicking strongly with her right leg to the knee of an Ekat, he fell and never got up anymore.

"Stupid girl!" Their leader yelled and waved to the others, who began approaching the girl.

However, they were unable to reach her.

Nikolai jumped before her and the others followed his example. Amy found herself surrounded by her friends, guarding her with their own bodies.

As if her battle cry poured the old bravery into them, they yelled and attacked the Ekats with such agility, that they couldn't defend themselves.

Sinead ran up to a flabbergasted agent and pulled the weapon out of his grip.

Ian threw himself at another one and with his arms tied back, he pushed his head to the Ekat's stomach.

Alisatir was standing captive next to the tree, shouting to take the attention of the enemy, but only until Irina freed him.

"Old unknotting training…" She mumbled hastily and darted back to combat.

Natalie and Dan were struggling together with an oversized goon.

" Catch him!" Natalie yelled out of breath, hanging from the back of the man, but Dan was too busy dodging the hits.

" Brats… brats…" The man threw Natalie off himself and pushed Dan to the ground. " You have no idea how to fight. Hopeless."

" We are not!" Natalie yelled not caring how childish it sounded. She had heard so many times before that she was a failure that even a comment like that infuriated her. And what's the best way to gather strength? _Rage._

" You know what?" She shouted furiously. " These" She pointed at her shoes. " are Prada. Part of my unique collection. Noone on Earth has any other pair like…"

Dan interrupted, rolling his eyes. " Natalie, you should get to the point before our 'fashionista' friend gets asleep."

Natalie looked angrily at him, then continued her speech as if nothing had happened. " But these shoes are even more than that." She smiled and walked to the Ekat." They are the ones I'll kick your fat butt with!"

As she pronunced the last word, the high heel of her shoe landed on the man's foot, who moaned and jumped up and down like a cartoon character - until his head collided to a branch of a tree, which made him lay motionless in the grass.

" Cobra," Dan gasped. " you've just knocked out the XXL edition of King Kong with a single step."

" You still have a lot to learn, Cahill!" The girl answered mockingly, proud of herself.

Nikolai was contemplating an attack too, but he stopped.

 _Why would he move a finger if Gordon Oh could change the result of the fight anytime?_

There was only one way left. _The portal._

Although it was already tremendously small, he could still enter it in time. Struggling through the battling people, he sneaked to it, but as he rose from the ground to go after the evil Oh, his arm was pulled back. Amy was still holding his hand.

" Amy…" He started. His cheeks were burning. He could just hope that he wasn't blushing.

" Nikolai, listen. I have to tell you that… that if we turn back time… then you… and everyone who had initially…"

Suddenly one of the bad guys shot. Yelling came. Nothing was visible, but the dark dust the air was filled with.

" There's no time to think about that." The boy replied. His body was full of adrenaline. " The portal is about to close forever. If we don't go…" He bit his tongue.

" Nik…" Amy wated to respond, but her throat was caught by a furious Ekat.

Nikolai also felt being bore down by an overwhelming force.

" Where do you think you are going, you moron?" The one smothering him asked cheerfully, but the smile on his face disappeared as ten sharp poison needles pierced his skin.

" Leave my son alone!" Irina cried, leaping behind the man. " Nikolai, Amy, run!"

" Irina!" Amy cried as she saw the woman being shoved to a rock.

" Don't worry about me!" She replied, standing up to face the enemy again. " I can take care of myself."

The Ekat wanted to push her to the stone wall again, but she blocked the assault and returned the hit.

" Don't just stand there!" She shouted again, this time rather scolding them. " The portal nearly disappeared! Go before it's late! I'm counting on you!"

Nikolai wanted to answer, but Amy trailed him away.

His arm felt as if it entered a cold liquid. Then half of his body. _The the whole._

After he passed through the portal, he began floathing in the middle of nothing. All he could see was Amy. He opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but only bubbles came out from between his lips.

They were underwater. Bewilderedly, he fought for oxygen, but to his surprise, he had no difficulty breathing.

Nikolai winked. The whole scene seemed too strange to believe.

 _And that was before a vortex appeared, pulling them into the deepness of the neverending sea._

* * *

 **Yeah, Niko and Amy are on for a little travel in time, but don't worry, I think I won't disclose a big secret if I say that the others won't just disappear from the story either. :)**


	54. Into the Gate of Eternity

**Hey Everyone!**

 **To start with, thanks for the reviews!**

 **Sorry again for not updating for a while, I swear, if I ever start a new story, I'll write the final chapters in advance so that I won't get a writers block when I arrive to the "the story needs an epic ending" point in my mind... ugh... xD**

* * *

Chapter 54

 _He counted them again and again, but he still got to the same number... and it was too much._

 _"What do you want?" He asked, but knew the answer. Their grins made it obvious._

 _"I won't let you hurt her!" He stood up._

 _As they launched to attack, the first iron rod began to spin on his finger._

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Ian watched as Amy and Niko jumped into the portal.

 _"I should have gone with them!"_ He thought. " _Amy may need my help... Spasky isn't a five-star teamworker after all..."_

He was contemplating to follow his friends, when someone grabbed his arm.

"Ian!" Isabel groaned as she got conscious on the ground.

"Mu- mummy?!" Ian stuttered. It was the first time he could talk to her after the affair with the Vespers.

Isabel examined his face, then took out a poison dart and threw it.

Ian needed a minute to realise that the pain he started to feel in his stomach was just the result of his imagination and that he wasn't the one his mother aimed at. On the other hand, the man who had appeared behind him to backstab him fell backwards and didn't move again. Isabel had saved his life.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me mummy? It makes me sound old!" Isabel scolded him, but her expression softened as she hugged her son.

Ian stood paralized. "You... you haven't embraced me since..."

"I know." She admitted, then sent him one of her most glamurous smiles. "But I changed. A lot."

Peeks at the portal. " However, I still couldn't accept if it was only the son of Irina who had the prestige of saving the world..."

"I'll have to go." Ian nodded. "But... can I ask one last question?"

Isabel wanted to say yes, but a man went for them, so she had to fight back.

"I promise I'll tell you anything, just later, darling. I suppose now both of us have something else to do."

She made it clear what she was referring to. Ian saw the way to the portal open up.

"Come after me!" He yelled and got lost in the mystic blue waves.

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 _He was holding her vulnerable body in his hands. He swore that he wouldn't cry. She had never wanted him to._

 _His gaze wandered from her pretty face to the mountain above them. The agents who came for them... they were all defeated, one by one. But up there, on the peak, there were more. More than he could overwhelm himself... and his family was fighting those people._

 _Her hand caressed his face. He knew what he had to do...  
...and immediately hated himself for it._

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"Cobra, your stupid shoe trick doesn't work anymore!"

Hearing that, Sinead Starling ran to rescue Dan and Natalie from the revived "King Kong 2.0", but she bounced back from him.

To make it better, the man slowly turned to her to see the "small insect" that had clashed to him.

"What do you want little ant?" He smiled.

 _"Strong. Too strong."_ Sinead thought. "You can't be an Ekat!" She said without thinking.

And then came the most flabbergasting event of the day: King Kong 2.0 blushed.

"How... how did you know?"

Sinead's eyes widened. _"This can't be!"_ She thought, then got an idea.

"Because I am the one who was sent after you..." She tried to put as much confidence in her voice as she could.

The man seemed to get taken in, but then, he shook his head. "The last time I was there, Mr. Holt told me that I was a useless crybaby. What would he want from me?"

"The leadership... they just realised that they need you." Sinead tried to win some time to think while concentrating not to gape from man's naiveness.

 _"Why would the Ekats let a Tomas join them? What can a Tomas do that can make him be a part of a branch with totally different attitude?"_ She wondered. _"Let's see Hammer for example... He cannot even read a map himself, but..."_

"They need your hacking skills!" She risked it and won as the eyes of King Kong lit up. "Oh, yes they terribly do. You could be our hero! Maybe... maybe even Mr. Holt would give you his branch leader position to show how... how glad he was if you came back!"

"Really? Is that all true?"

Sinead was afraid that the man would have hugged her to death from joy if she told him anything else, so all she did was nodding, even though it wasn't the sign of her confirmation but the warning for the giggling Dan and Natalie to sneak to the time-gate. And they understood it.

Unfortuantely, King Kong did the same.

"The children!" He shouted. "They are leaving!"

He threw himself after them, but he was late.

"Better luck next time!" Dan laughed as he faded away with Natalie, hands in hands.

. _-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

Irina had to admit that she hated Ekats... Nah, not all of them, but the man chasing her truly deserved it.

She swung her arms, but couldn't escape his iron grip. This was enough for her to start feeling hostility towards him.

Then, that bastard had the bravery to kick Alistair, who came to help her, right in his stomach, making the poor old man tremble in pain.

Hissing furiously, Irina leaped to the enemy and pushed him to the ground, clawing his face with her nails.

"I will..." She shouted, but the man regained control and turned that way, that he could catch her wrists again and push them down.

"You will do what?" He asked triumphantly.

"She won't do anything." Came a third voice. "I will."

If the events of the upcoming seconds were told her as a story, Irina would have laughed right into the face of the one who made it up, repeating over and over again how unrealistic, how silly it was.

But it wasn't a tale. She was fighting the Ekats... _side-by-side with Isabel Kabra._

And what was the most bizarre in that situation? They made a perfect team.

Isabel pushed the man off her and helped her up.

"Come on, Spasky, don't be lazy, I won't do your part!"

Irina's mouth curled up to a half smile.

"Don't worry, Cobra! You should rather mind your own buisness!" She replied and pulled Isabel away from the hit of another man.

They struggled, but the numerous enemies surrounded them.

"Remember the falcon kick?" Irina asked over her shoulder. Isabel said nothing, just caught her arm, taking up the special position.

 _"So, you do..."_ Irina thought.

The circle of the men shrunk as they got closer and closer.

"Three." Irina began the countdown.

"Two." Isabel carried on.

"NOW!" They yelled together and bolted towards the enemy.

Isabel slipped forward and swung her hands, helping Irina high up to the sky. As they rose their gazes to Irina, the sun blinded the Ekats, which Isabel used to knock them out with a fast round strike. Meanwhile, Irina did a full turn in the air, then straightened her legs which collided to the last two agents, sending them unconscious.

However, the two women had no time to rest: they saw an enourmous guy rise a gun, pointing the barrel at Sinead and Alistair. Irina darted to them, but knew that she couldn't save them. She didn't have adequate time. All she could do was watching the live horror.

"Stupid girl, you will pay for making a fool of me!" King Kong shouted.

"Oh, I was not needed for that..." Sinead responded bravely. She was trying to take the man's attention from her uncle, so that he could survive, but Alistair stepped before her instead, protecting her with his own body.

"Leave her alone!" He hissed at the enourmous man. "I'm here for you!"

"No problem, old man, I don't care for the order!" He grinned.

King Kong intended to pull the trigger, but a splitting pain entered his chest. He put one of his hands on the aching point and found blood... with a long iron spear.

Irina gasped as she turned 180 degrees to see her brother standing on a cliff.

Alek Spasky looked like an avenging angel. His cloth was ragged, half of his T-shirt was missing. The wind blew his hair into his face, but none of his locks could hide the hatred in his blue eyes. His fists were tightening on the spears as if he was trying to keep his infinite furry back this way.

"Alek?" Irina asked anxiously. "Alek, what happened... and where is Nata?"

"Where's the one responsible for all?" He asked coldly, paying no attention to Irina. Then, he noticed the gate. "Hmph, so that way."

He strolled to the portal, but at the 'treshold' of it, he stopped.

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you coming?" He growled over his shoulder.

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Amy Cahill has never had enough time to keep telling herself what a 'normal' life she had. A crazy family, a clue hunt for a serum that could make you the most poweful person in the world, doomsday devices and multipled disasters from the past...

So, how on Earth could someone suspect her getting even slightly surprised at the fact that she traveled back in time, fell into a big mass of water, was sucked into the depths by a vortex and ended up coughing on a sandy beach...

She looked up and her mouth stayed open. The sky was in a hue of light orange. As the white clouds were blown away by a weak draft, the blood red circle of a solar eclipse appeared.

After the thin line of sand, a rainforest rose above them.

"Where are we?"

"You're stealing my lines!" Nikolai sat up next to her and gazed at the jungle. "Anyway, there's only one way to know..."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!**

 **I'll be back with the next chappy in a week or two - my fav part to write is nearly here after all! :D**

 **See you!**


	55. In The Rainforest

**Hi Readers!**

 **As I promised, here's the next chapter.  
** **I hope you will enjoy it! :D**

* * *

Chapter 55

"Am I the only one who feels the temperature soaring?" Amy Cahill was wiping the sweat off her forehead with a tissue. She and Nikolai had been tramping in the forest for half an hour, but they couldn't find the track of Mr. Oh or anyone else. The worst of all was that they didn't know how much time was left to stop the Ekats. And then they forgot to add the fact that they were helplessly lost in the jungle of venomous snakes, oversized insects and deadly predators.

"Maybe... Uh, all I can think of is that we are going round and round." Nikolai stopped. "Really. Just look at that tree!" He pointed at an old mahogany tree whose roots broke to the surface like thousands of tangled snakes. "We must have seen it before!"

Amy examined it carefully. She couldn't help having a deja-vu. It didn't start from Nikolai's comment, but from the moment she had set foot in the rainforest.

"But it can't be... How could we circle around a point if we keep going to only one direction?"

Nikolai went closer to the scary roots. "How much weight do you think these can sustain?"

"What are you planning to do?" Amy rose an eyebrow.

"This tree is about 60 metres high. We could see our surroundings from its top and decide which way to go."

"Then let's do it!" Amy agreed.

Abruptly, the shrubs behind them started to move.

"What... what's there?" Amy asked, making Niko turn back. However, the bush got still from her voice.

"There's nothing. Maybe just the wind rustled the leaves..." Nikolai tried to calm her down, but Amy was sure that she'd seen something white from the behind of the greenery. "Eh, stay here, I'll be back in a second."

While Niko disappeared high up on the tree, the shrub moved again.

Amy walked slowly backwards. She didn't know what was hiding there, but it was only the matter of time when it decided to come out.

 _"What if it is a puma? Or..."_ She wished she could stop the flow of thoughts in her head.

The leaves rattled even more intensely.

"Um, Nikolai...?"

"I'm nearly there, don't worry! If you could see what a nice view is up here!"

"But..." Amy groaned. The monster behind the bushes was about to pop up. She grabbed a branch from the ground and held it like a sword at the shrub.

When the creature jumped out of its shelter, Amy rose the piece of wood, hitting it with all the power left in her.

The muddy thing let out a roar.

If the girl hadn't been concentrating on defending herself, she would have thought that the stranger was shouting her name - _with a silky British accent..._

"Aaaammyyyyyy! I surrender! Stop! I came in peace!" Ian Kabra shouted for his life, trying to dodge the deadly branch.

"I-Ian?" Amy stuttered when she realised what she was doing. "How...? Wait, did I hurt you?"

"I'm ok, don't worry!" Having survived the assault, Ian sat onto one of the enormous roots. "But that portal and that water... I was sure that I'd drown!"

"So you..."

"Yeah, I jumped some minutes after you." Ian said. "Then I landed on a beach..."

Amy nodded. "The same happened to Niko and me. But how could you find us?"

"What? That self-sufficient blonde is still with you?"

After seeing the girl's frown and the 'weapon' in her hand, Ian made that _really wise_ decision to take the case seriously.

"Getting back to the point, conjectured that the Ekats and you were in the jungle, so I went inside, and then there was this..." Ian paused for a minute. "Listen!"

Amy heard the sound of drums spreading between the trunks of the trees. The distant music consisted of the repetition of a short and two longer tones, which were enough to send shivers down her spine.

"I was following this." Ian said when Amy got back from under the spell of the mysterious melody. "It lead me deeper into the forest... to you... However, I still wonder where it comes from. I haven't seen a single soul on the way here."

Amy shook her head. "I have no clue..."

"But I do. Guys, come up here, you have to see this!" Came Niko's voice from upwards.

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"I could say that I like being lost in the middle of nothing with you, Daniel, but I'd be lying."

"And I could also say that I'm fond of the put downs like this from those boring TV shows, Cobra, but I'd be also lying."

"You are so..."

"What?"

"I don't want to be near a peasant like you, go away!"

"Happily!"

Dan Cahill had no idea when he got the first slap, but he realised quite fast that it was a fatal mistake to underestimate Natalie Kabra's strength, even if she looked like a harmless fashionista.

"I told you to go west and what did you do? The total opposite! And now we're lost in this... this..."

"Jungle?" Dan helped her.

"Yes, this jungle!" Natalie moaned, not seeing the dark shadow swooshing above her head. "I hate it. These mosquitoes and... and ugly lizards... and... Aargh!"

The small monkey sitting on a tree must have found the girl's hairdo really attractive, because he buried his hands in it and refused to let her go. He stick to her so much that when she wanted to get further from the tree, he jumped on her back, causing a _not so pleasant_ surprise to her.

 _"OK, now..."_ Natalie calmed herself, ignoring the laughing Dan. She had some experience with monkeys from the Kabra family's private zoo and knew that the worst thing to do in such a situation is moving too quickly. So carefully, she caught the neck of the animal and did her best to lift his body up to break free from the small fingers pulling her black locks. Finally, getting annoyed of Natalie's trials, the monkey let out an indignant cry and decided to sit on Dan's shoulders instead.

"Hi buddy, how are you doing?" Dan caressed the head of the tiny mammal. "Oh, how should I call you? What about Paco?"

As if Paco understood him, he jumped up to the top of Dan's head.

"Hey, put that monster down already!" Natalie narrowed her eyes. "And don't give him a name, because it can sound like that you want to take him with us!"

"Who said I don't want to?" Dan smirked. "And anyway, it was time I had some intelligent companion."

He saw Natalie's olive face redden.

 _"She is going to blow up."_ He thought. _"Cool!"_

The girl approached him. Dan got ready to get the fourth slap that day, but she just froze next to him.

"Natalie?"

"Sshhh!"

"Nat-?"

"Shut up already, Cahill!" Natalie hissed and pressed her hand on his mouth.

"Oooh, oooh, aah, aah!" Paco protested.

"You too!" She sighed and made the monkey quiet the same way. "I think I heard something!"

 _Bum... Dum... Bum..._

 _Bum... Dum... Bum..._

"Sounds like a bad music track from Nellie's phone." Dan laughed.

"Idiot!" Natalie sighed. "Music means that there's someone to ask where we are!"

Dan rolled his eyes, but then felt the weight of Paco taken off him. The animal climbed back onto Natalie, peeked around himself, then stole her bracelet and escaped, swinging from liana to liana.

"Hey, you little thief!" Natalie yelled and started to run after him. "Give it back! Immediately!"

"Natalie, wait, you are-" Dan tried to catch her wrist, but she was too agile. All he could do was following her into the middle of the forest... _Right where the strange sounds were coming from..._

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 _Why do all those hateful creatures like spiders and insects always find the most beautiful, glamorous person in the group?_

Isabel Kabra didn't know the answer, but with a spider dancing on the top of her head, somehow she found figuring it out less important.

Her problems started when she found herself wandering through a forest after strange drum-like sounds, in the companion of Sinead Starling and what's worse, two Spaskys the same time. The eight-legged monster was just a bonus...

"Isabel, wait!" Sinead pulled a tissue out of her pocket. "I'll try to get it out of your hair..."

"No, don't touch me!" Isabel yelled hysterically, making Irina and the others giggle. "It's disgusting!"

She was about to catch the black coloured animal and throw it off herself, but Sinead stopped her arm. There was something Isabel couldn't see on the spider's back. _The sand-glass shaped, red spot._

Sinead took a step backwards. She realized fast that it was no laughing matter. "Don't move!"

"Why... what...?" Isabel gaped at the terrified expression of Sinead. Then, she noticed the mark too.

 _It was a black widow racing up her back._

She let out a scream, which made everyone else turn back to her - _everyone except for Alek._ The man kept heading to the enemy like a terminator. Irina was halfway between him and the other part of the group.

"Alek, wait!" Irina told her brother, but all the answer coming from the man was a furious growl.

Meanwhile, Isabel felt the spider climb closer to her face, covering her with its sticky web. She let out a groan as she thought of the poison it could infect her with. She would be dead in no time.

Then, the widow made its way to her mouth.

"Mmph..." She pushed her lips together and peered at Sinead, messaging "What takes so long?" with her eyes.

Sinead lifted the tissue and tried to wipe away the spider, although she had mixed emotions about saving Isabel. She was a dangerous Vesper, a power-hungry killer - or at least Sinead knew only this side of her. However, she owed Natalie one after all the little girl had to go through because of her betrayal.

As she was about to free Isabel desperately, the widow slipped up to the woman's eyes. As it left her mouth, Isabel opened it and yelled in terror again.

Irina, ignoring the still grumbling Alek, walked back to her old rival.

"I'll try to get it off with my nail-needles." She offered. "Can you tilt your head a bit backwards?"

Isabel obeyed, but the widow climbed upwards again, resting on her forehead.

"It's going to kill me!" Isabel shouted, losing control. Crocodile tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"I'll make it, just don't panic!" Irina tried to calm her down, but the woman kept shaking her head rapidly, crying - it was a wonder that the spider staid motionless.

"Isabel, please!" Irina tried and leaned closer to help her, but her hands were stopped. A _deadly iron spear flew past her in the air._

Isabel saw it too, but it was too late for her to dodge it.

The next thing she remembered was the eight legs disappear from her face.

She opened her eyes and with her gaze, she followed the trajectory of the spear to find it hanging horizontally from the bark of a tree with the black widow on its sharp edge.

"Can we go now already?" They heard Alek's irritated voice.

"You crazy moron, you could have killed me!" Isabel gasped. "How you dare?!"

"I saved your life, so please be nice and don't hinder our mission anymore or..." The man rose another iron rod.

Isabel's eyes widened... and she wasn't the only one. Alek's behaviour flabbergasted his sister too.

While the team continued their journey, Irina caught his wrist and drew him aside, behind a tree.

"Brother, we need to talk!"

"Leave me alone!" Alek huffed, shaking her hands off him.

"Listen," Irina insisted. "Even if Nata-"

"Hey, there's someone!" A scream interrupted, making all the heads turn to the same direction.

* * *

 **That's it! :)**

 **Reviews are well appreciated, so if you liked this chappy, please send one! ^^  
**

 **Anyway next week seems to be a nightmare, so I won't promise any updates for a while, but maybe... eh... I'll see... xP**

 **Thanks for reading again, see you later!**


	56. In The Rainforest Pt2

**Hi People! :D**

 **A fast update with Chapter 56 is on the line, just for you! ;)**

* * *

Chapter 56

 _"Help! Help!"_

Irina turned her head to the source of the desperate cries to notice Alistair - or rather his upper-body, which wasn't covered by mud. The man was fighting frantically to break free from under the great mass of sand, but all the movements made him sink even faster.

"Uncle Alistair!" Sinead recognised him too. "Don't give it up, we'll help!"

She made her way to a tree and started searching for fallen branches that were thick enough for her to save the man with. Irina did the same, but soon, she had to realise what a helpless situation they were in. Neither her, nor the others could find anything useful and to make matters worse, Alek had disappeared too.  
While they were seeking, Alistair sunk to the level of his neck and even without a physician's degree, Irina could tell that with that speed, the old man had only seconds left.

"Go, leave me, you are losing time!" Alistair said as he had to admit to himself that he couldn't be saved. "Stop the evil... they... hmppph..." He couldn't carry on, because his mouth got under the sludge.

"Come on!" Irina swore, then wiped the sweat off her forehead. "A real Lucian doesn't know the word: surrender!"

"But he is an Ekat, not a..." She heard from the behind, but before she could have slapped the speaking person's face, the memory of one of her returning nightmares flashed up in front of her. Although there was no fire, somehow she felt smoke filling her lungs.  
 _Screams... Amy and Dan... and Alistair looking for another bamboo pole..._

 _"No, it's not the same!"_ She growled to herself. _"I won't fail this time, I won't!"_

Irina became totally unaware of what she was doing, she just followed her instincts and grabbed Alistair's hand, pulling him upwards with her own strength.

"Out... _NOW_!"

Her fingertips went white from straining, but Alistair didn't move by an inch. She had no clue if the yell of the others or the ground slipping under her feet was the first thing she comprehended, because at that moment, the only thing she could concentrate on was getting her body ready to be "eaten" by the cold ground - head first, legs at the end.

Then, she heard Isabel's voice, telling - or to be more precise, ordering - her to hold on.

"We've got a branch!" Sinead shouted from the background, then gave it to the other hand of Alistair, who had already been fighting for oxygen. Then, with her and Isabel on one side and Irina on the other one, they began lifting him up, successfully.

 _"We... we will make it!"_ Isabel mumbled and could truly believe that she was right until the branch cracked, then broke and the man's face fully disappeared into the moor.

"No!"

At the next moment, Irina felt the two other women's breath on her back as they leaned closer, fighting the nature one last time.

 _"How many seconds can a human take without oxygen? Maybe we have some more minutes... We can't lose him!"_

With her last drops of hope, she groaned and tried trailing Alistair out again, more desperately. Sinead and Isabel did their best too and... _and nothing._

 _"Once more!"_

"Stop!" A firm fist landed on her shoulder. "I checked it, it's..."

"No, Alek, I won't let him go!" Irina protested. "Maybe you _gave it in_ , but I w-"

"It's not normal mud, it's a man-made trap!" Alek interrupted. "The more you struggle, the deeper he gets... Let me do it!"

With those words, he tossed her away as softly as he could, _which meant that he literally pushed her away roughly,_ making her fall on her back. Then, he grabbed Alistair's arm and as if he was releasing a fish from a hook, he slowly lifted him up to the surface and dropped him next to Irina.

"See, idiot, that's how it works. I'd ran away to examine what kept the old b*stard down, because I remembered those special Inca mud traps and see?" Alek's gaze was blazing with anger. "I haven't given it in. I never did... Not now... and not about... about _her..._ "

He turned away to hide a tear in the corner of his eye, then straightened his back. "Now, anyone else to bring back from death again? No one? So we can get back to business? Fantastic!"

 _"Bring back from death?"_ Irina was tasting the phrase. She had a feeling that there was something else behind her brother's words, but her thoughts went to another direction as she noticed Alistair getting conscious as he started coughing.

"Are you OK?" Irina asked, patting his back.

"Yes, my dear, thanks to you." Alistair smiled plainly at her. "And him..."

"Oh, don't pay too much attention to Alek, he is sometimes too grumpy to know what he is saying." Irina assured him.

"Another family feature." Isabel laughed as she overheard them, winning a poisonous glare. "At least he isn't wearing that special manicure of yours..."

This comment made Alek stop, then unexpectedly rush back to Isabel and grab her neck.

"Snake, do I look like someone in a humorous mood?" His nostrils widened. "One more like that and..."

"Wayawakasa!" A harsh voice interrupted.

"What again?" Alek turned to its direction annoyedly.

The spear being held to his throat was the clear evidence of the fact that he was getting out of his old spy routine.  
No team of loin-clothed, yellow-face-painted natives could have surrounded his careful, experienced self after all.

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"Now, that's a view!" Amy watched the colourful birds flying up from the green leaves as she and Ian arrived at the top of the tree. There, Nikolai pulled her up to himself onto a wide branch and Ian took his place on her other side.

"And that's not all." Niko smiled. "Look!"

His friends turned slack-jawed to the place he was gesturing to.

In the far East, high mountains scraped the orange sky with their snow-white peaks, buried in clouds. As fresh draft blew away their nimbus-clothes, revealing the stark silhouette of their rocks, a third, smaller peak came visible in between.  
Amy had to spend some minutes peering at it to realise that it wasn't another crag. It was something else. Something more spectacular, more majestic... _and more familiar._

"The temple we visited with Uncle Alek... just an expanded version of it." Nikolai was reading her thoughts. "The time travel brought us back to it."

"That's why we thought that we had been circling around the forest, even if we were heading to only one direction. Because we've been here before..." Amy pointed out.

"Creepy." Ian groaned. "Just don't make me repeat that climbing-show over that deep hole!"

Niko let out a smirk, which wasn't usual of him considering the fact that he was near the Kabra. "No offense, Cobra, but I suppose, we'll have some... how to say... more extreme task in here. We have to get past that hole _AND_ stop a megalomaniac guy after all..."

"And that's not everything." Amy pointed to the distance. "Why do I have the feeling that it wasn't Mr. Oh lighting such bonfires there?"

Some metres further from the temple, a group of small dots - people - were dancing around the high flames.

"Indians?" Ian guessed.

"Maybe. Or worse."

"Huh?"

"Man-eating cannibals I say." Niko grinned at Ian's scared expression. "They make you a roasted chicken. Yum, yum!"

"Guys," Amy groaned. "please!"

To her surprise, the two boys obeyed.  
It was Nikolai, who broke the silence.

"The sand is rolling down in our clock," He jumped down to a lower branch like a monkey. "I think we should-"

"Go on and check the cannibals and their temple out?" Ian sighed, following him to the ground.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this chapter, I hope you liked it!  
** **I'll do my best to bring the next update fast enough, but... erm... school... xD  
Anyway, reviews are appreciated (*maniac smile*), so if you have any predictions/want to share your opinion, then please do so! :) **


	57. Native People? Not Now!

**Hi Everyone! ^^  
Thanks for the reviews and sorry for not updating as fast as I used to...  
So now, here's Chapter 57, I hope you'll like it! ;)  
**

* * *

Chapter 57

"Peasants... peasants everywhere..." Isabel Kabra cried harshly like a tantrum making 3-years-old. The natives marched closer with their weapons pointed at the Cahills. "You lazy idiots, do something, immediately!"

Irina let out a groan. They were in a hurry and an attack from any wild tribe was the last thing they needed...

She looked down to see Alistair, who was still recovering from the lack of oxygen, but at least his face was becoming less and less pale. His improving conditions couldn't have made any difference that time: Alistair was still too weak to be proven useful in case of a fight, however Irina felt a way relieved seeing that he was ok.

Then, she peeked at her brother. Alek was leaning against a tree, spinning an iron rod on his finger. Even though he looked confident, Irina could notice the slight sign of fear in his eyes. And when Alek Spasky felt like that... well, that meant no good...

 _"Come closer to me."_ He messaged mentally. _"If I throw the spear, don't pay any attention to the others, start running!"_

 _"But I can't just leave them here to die!"_ Irina protested.

"Maybe we should try to communicate with them somehow..." Sinead suggested worriedly pulling her head away from a threatening sword. "We could mime or..."

"With these? They cannot even..." Isabel put her hands on the top of her head. "Oh, why are things like that happening to me all the t-" She whined, but abruptly, her eyelids closed up and she fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Irina's eyes widened as she saw a small, colourful toxic dart clinging from the woman's neck. Then, just when she noticed an Indian with a blowpipe at his mouth, she felt something piercing her own skin. She rose her hand to her back, her fingers touching a thin and soft material. A feather, identical to the one on the dart that had brought Isabel down. Then, darkness came.

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"I see them now..." Amy Cahill was forming a binocular with her hands. "The only way to the temple leads through the village."

She was hiding with the boys in the shelter of a shrub, quite close to the camp of the tribe.

"What about bypassing it?" Ian straightened his leg which was getting numb from the long crouching.

"No, that would be too time-consuming. Don't forget why we are here." Niko pointed out.

"Then? They have guards and we cannot wait for the night to come to make it easier for us!"

Niko growled a bit at this and shook his head.

"Hey, isn't that Uncle Alistair?" Amy asked suddenly. "I didn't know he'd jumped into the portal..."

"There's mum too!" Ian realised. "A-and Sinead, Irina... with Alek! But where are they taking them?"

The expression turned into a grimace on Nikolai's face as he concentrated to see more details. All he could make out from that distance was that the members of his family were carried around the fire in the middle of the village on long poles. Then, the hostages were taken into the tent-like building, from where the monotonous chanting was coming from.

"They will... they will hurt them! We can't let it be!" Niko jumped up, yelling. "We have to save them, now!"

"Calm down, attracting the enemy's attention won't help us!" The tension in Ian's voice was unmistakable. "We need a plan first."

"No. While you are collecting ideas, who knows what is happening in that tent... We have to sneak inside and bring them out as fast as we can!"

...And this is how the so called _'sophisticated discussion'_ started between the guys...

"Planning!"

"Sneaking in!"

"Planning!"

"Sneaking in!"

"Pl-"

"Stop it already! Your shouting will attract those cannibals and then we will be caught too." Amy hissed. "And anyway, I've got an idea."

This made both Ian and Niko quiet.

"So, these people down there are not so... educated." Amy explained. "So we can trick them easily."

"You want to fool a whole tribe?" Ian gaped. "But how?"

A slight smile appeared on the girl's face. "Follow me and you will see!"

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The native people left and Irina opened her eyes to examine her surroundings. She was lying on the ground in a strange tent, which was gloomy and chilly inside. Singing and laughter spread through the narrow entrance.  
In the semidarkness, she sat up and experienced with surprise that her hands and legs were untied. As her eyes got used to the dark, she checked her nails to see the needles left inside. There were small flowers put on each one, which made her frown and someone else behind her laugh.

"Someone took it girly today..." Alek's evil chuckle came. The man was lying with his back leaning to the thick and long pillar that was holding the whole building. He was playing with an iron rod.

Irina shook the petals off the needles and turned immediately to his direction. Then, her eyes widened. "What are you wearing?"

Alek's gaze wandered up and down himself. There was a long vest on him, made of grass, branches and leaves. His hands and feet were wrapped into the same material.

"Seems like some kind of ritual clothing." He answered. "The others have the same."

"The others? Where are they?" Irina crawled up to him with her heartbeat getting faster and faster.

"Sinead is there," Alek pointed to his left. "she is still unconscious. Isabel was taken away a second ago..."

Irina winked. She couldn't catch a glimpse of the girl from the shadows but she could hear her snoring peacefully.

"And Alistair?"

"Does he matter?" Her brother asked in his original mocking way, but Irina could hear something else in his voice, the same hatred and pessimism that took over him after leaving the Cahill Island. He wasn't alright, she was sure, and the fact that his old assassin self would return and she would lose him scared her as it seemed from minute to minute more realistic to happen.  
Irina thought for a second to ask him how she could help, but then she remembered his reaction in the forest and decided to keep to the point.

"We need as many people as possible to escape from here." She muttered finally, as if she was telling a practiced-to-death speech.

"If you think so..." Alek shrugged his shoulders. "He disappeared."

The cold answer was echoing from the walls. The blood froze in Irina's veins.

 _"Is it possible that he d-... No, he couldn't, stop telling yourself bullsh*t like that!"_ She scolded herself. _"You can still save him and the others. You only have to..."_

"We can't escape, can we?" She asked abruptly.

"I've checked it. There are guards everywhere. We wouldn't stand a chance..."

Irina sighed. "Then we'll have to wait..."

When suddenly an Indian pulled away the canvas of the tent, the inside of it bathed in the golden sunshine. Alek peeked around with his half-closed eyes, blinded by the intense light. Then, the contours of the furniture became less and less obscure. However, he couldn't see all of his surroundings, because a hand caught his and trailed him and Irina out to the open air.

"What do you think they want from us?" Irina whispered to him on the way.

"The Indians?" In the light, the funny lines painted with mud and clay on Alek's face came visible, but suspecting that she was given similar 'make up', Irina held back the giggle.

"Da."

"Well..." Alek smiled to hide his anxiety. "To be honest I have no clue."

Irina groaned and being pushed forward, she continued her journey to the centre of the village.

They were heading between two lines of soldiers. Behind the ones with weapons sat Indians in beautiful, fancy clothes, beating drums. The other inhabitants were trying to get a peek of the strangers over their shoulders.

Then, when they arrived at there, the drum-rolls died out and an Indian wearing a crown with some magnificent feathers appeared. Next to him stood Alistair. Between the two men took place a throne with a boy sitting on it, holding a monkey in his hands.

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Amy was sure the plan would work. She had just underestimated its effect.

When Ian Kabra jumped into the crowd of natives with his phone playing the immortal default ringtone, a new era had started in the Indians' history.

"I hope the battery will last for a while..." The boy pulled back his wings made from branches and leaves as the natives stopped bowing and lifted him up to their shoulders to carry him into their camp. "You two will owe me a lot for this!"

"Thanks, Cobra boy!" Nikolai waved to him, then sneaked back to Amy. "They took the bait."

"Great, then all that's left is to go and free the others." She nodded. "But, anyway... how could you make Ian volunteer for that?"

Smirking, Niko rose a flashy-looking scarf. "You know what he keeps saying all the time: silk is above everything... Say hello to my hostage, Scarfy!"

"Nikolai, that was so evil!" Amy giggled under her breath. After the Indians faded away, she followed the path they left behind to the village.

"Be careful, it's slippery here!" Niko caught her arm to help her down the steep hill, stepping over long roots that broke up from the ground as if they wanted to trip the poor wanderers up. To make matters worse, they had to act fast not to get captured. No wonder, when they reached the first building at the corner of the village, they could hardly feel their legs.

"Ok," Amy crouched and pushed her back to the massive building. "here comes the difficult part."

Nikolai peeked out of the shelter to see that his family had been escorted outside and Ian had soon joined them. "Oh no! Amy look!"

Amy wanted to turn her head to their direction, but a the edge of a sharp spear prevented her from moving.

"Nik-?" She cried, but the boy had been disarmed too.

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"Ni-Nikolai!" Seeing her son dragged nearby Irina broke away from the gripping hands of the guards.

"Mum, sorry, I failed..." The boy muttered to her, but all he got as a reply was a bear-hug.

Next to him, Amy rose her head to see the boy on the throne.  
Despite being in lethal danger, surrounded by hundreds of natives, the first sentence that ran out of her mouth sounded like: _"What are you doing there? Is everyone insane in here?"_

* * *

 **Please leave me a review with your opinion/predictions if you can! :)  
Also, I'll have to ask you i** **n advance** **not to kill me for the next chapter in connection with Alek... err...  
But now it's time for me to go, see you later!  
**


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